The Sisterhood: Second Generation II
by CandC1988
Summary: This is a sequel to my first second generation story. Follows the lives of the daughters of the original sisterhood.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or any of its characters. Most of the main characters are mine, however and come from my first story.

Author's Note: Okay, so here is my sequel to my Sisterhood: The Second Generation story. I had some good ideas for a sequel, so I decided to go ahead and start it.

"_If I have been of service, if I have glimpsed more of the nature and essence of ultimate good, if I am inspired to reach wider horizons of thought and action, if I am at peace with myself, it has been a successful day."_

_-Alex Noble_

Prologue

The pants that our mothers had cherished as teenagers and as adults had been passed onto us last summer. At the beginning, none of us understood the significance of these jeans that had been taken care of with so much love and care by our moms. However, after our first summer with the pants as our guidance, helping forge bonds of friendships that had never been there before, we all understood the exact significance of these pants. And now, at the beginning of the second summer we were ready to use the pants and have a great summer.

The four of us had been born in June, while our mothers had been born in September. This seemed to fit into our mother's perfect image of how we should be friends.

The first born was Bridget's daughter, Lainey. Lainey had her mother's energy, looks, personality, and soccer skills. The phrase about the apple not falling far from the tree really seems to be true with Lainey. She had changed last summer from a girl who was only thinking about the past, to a girl who was amazed by the future. She is fun, and her first friend of the new Sisterhood was Bailey, they formed a friendship bond last summer.

Next born was Bailey, Tibby's daughter. Before last summer I would have described her as someone who was intelligent and much like her father was as a younger teenager. But, she really grew last summer and while still being very intelligent she had grown to be an independent, friendly girl. She still looked much like her father, but she had completely developed a personality all her own.

Then, there was me, Sarah, Lena's daughter. I had the looks of my mother, down to my enormous feet, and the personality of my aunt. I do love to talk and when given the opportunity will do so. I had actually changed a lot since last summer too, however, because I am not quite outspoken as I have been in the past.

The last girl is Carmen's daughter, Vanessa, and my good friend in the Sisterhood. The one thing that sets Vanessa apart from the rest of us is the fact that she is actually adopted and not really Carmen's daughter. So, naturally, she has her own hair color, a dark brown, and eye color, blue, and even had differing personality of both her parents. She is kind of stable and efficient would be the best way to describe her.

This summer was going to be the second summer with the traveling pants. We knew that it would contain love, tears, and hopefully make the summer a generally good high school summer experience.


	2. Chapter One

_"Dream no small dreams for they have no power to move the hearts of men."_

_-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe_

Chapter One

Sarah quietly walked down the stairs to go eat breakfast. Today was the beginning of her summer and she knew that it was going to be an excellent summer, despite the fact that her closest friend, Vanessa, was going to be leaving to go visit her grandparents (who were also Sarah's grandparents) with her family. Sarah had been invited along, but felt like Vanessa needed time with her family, besides they were going to all meet back up at the end of the summer anyways to have their annual family reunion.

And while Vanessa was having fun at her grandparents, the other two girls in Sarah's sisterhood would also be spending their summers away. Lainey was going to an international soccer tournament in California and Bailey was going back to the summer camp that she had been at last summer. So, Sarah was the only girl of the four to be left at home. She hadn't really developed any plans for the summer, except to help run the summer cheerleading practices with her friend, Rebecca.

"Still thinking about this summer?" her mom asked as she poured her bowl of cereal.

"What am I going to do all summer?" Sarah complained, "with Vanessa gone, and Seth leaving for a good portion of the summer, Rebecca is the only person I have left. Couldn't I have gone to summer camp or something?"

"Honey," Lena smiled, "you know that you had to stay here to help with the summer cheerleading, and its not that bad, you'll be fine."

"That's what you think," Sarah whined again, "the family reunion at the end of the summer doesn't make things better."

"It will be nice to see your family," Lena said, steadily, "now, eat your breakfast, and quit your whining before I give you something to whine about."

With these words, Lena gave her daughter a quick kiss on the forehead before heading out the door towards work. Sarah shook her head before finishing her cereal.

999999

Lainey was just finishing packing her bags for California whenever her brother entered her room. Craig had a couple of days before he started summer school, so he had decided to come back and visit his family. Lainey was taken this as a good omen for her summer on the soccer field in California, what with her brother being able to see her off at the airport and all.

"Hey little sis," he greeted, with a small smile. Lainey looked at her brother, thinking about how he didn't look as happy as he usually did, however, it might have had something to do with his and Vanessa's break-up at Christmas.

"Hey Craig," she smiled, throwing her bathing suit in one bag and zipping it up, "I can't believe you are going to be at college all summer."

"And you are going to be in California," Craig reminded her, "you are going to be the best soccer player there."

"You have to say that because you're my brother," Lainey smiled, but somewhat hoping that he was right.

"Well, maybe," he grinned, and when she threw her pillow at him, he retracted his statement, "relax, just kidding. So, are you going to see Vanessa today?"

At the change of tone in his voice when he began to talk about Vanessa, Lainey began to frown, "I'll see her later, why?"

"Because, we promised to stay friends, but, I haven't seen her, and just wanted to know how she was doing," Craig shrugged nonchalantly.

"She's fine," Lainey assured him, "ready for a summer vacation I think."

"That's nice," Craig sighed, "but, anyways, we better finish getting you ready for tomorrow."

Lainey didn't say anything else, but could feel a sense of sadness rising up in her.

99999

"Hey Vanessa," Seth greeted as he walked into her apartment; she was randomly throwing things into suitcases, getting ready to go visit her grandparents.

"Hey Seth," she smiled as she dropped a hairbrush into a make-up bag.

"So, because my prize journalist is going to be gone all summer, along with myself, I've left Howard in charge of the newsroom," Seth stated as he plopped down on the couch. At these words, Vanessa looked up from her packing.

"Howard will destroy that place in two minutes," Vanessa tried to tell him.

"I know that it will be difficult, but next year, you and I are both graduating and I am going to have to find a replacement editor," Seth reminded her, "and while nobody can achieve what I have, Howard will do well. I hope."

"First, let's get that huge ego in check," Vanessa rolled her eyes at him, "and secondly, we still have a whole year before that happens."

"I was just kidding about the whole achieving thing," Seth grinned, "but, really, it is going to be different without seeing you most days this summer, but I guess it is preparing us for college and beyond."

"Aww … my best friend is going soft," Vanessa teased him, "once again, we still have an entire year. Any sad feelings about being seniors isn't supposed to hit until we at least start the school year."

"Okay, fine, then how is Craig?" Seth asked. Vanessa knew the real reason Seth had come over was to talk about Craig, but had brought up the Howard thing as kind of an icebreaker. She also knew that she didn't want to talk about Craig.

"I'm sure he's absolutely terrific," Vanessa shrugged, "just like always."

With that, she effectively ended the conversation by walking off towards her bedroom, leaving Seth to let himself out.

00000000

"Hey baby, can't wait to see you tomorrow," Bailey listened to the voice mail on her cell phone from Scott. She knew she had to call him back, but wasn't totally prepared too. What was she going to say whenever he asked why she hadn't returned his calls in two days? Could she possibly get away with saying she was busy with finals and stuff? Bailey didn't even know why she didn't really want to talk to Scott, she just felt this need to be alone and while talking with Scott was technically alone in the sense that he wasn't with her, she still felt somewhat odd talking to him on the phone.

"Hey Bailey!" Scott excitedly said as he picked up the phone after Bailey dialed his phone number and it rang a couple of times.

"Hey Scott," Bailey grinned to herself. Now that she was actually talking to Scott, she felt silly about not wanting to talk to him before, "how have you been?""Okay," Scott answered, "I can't wait to see you this summer. Camp Teens is going to be a lot of fun!"

"Isn't it always?" Bailey asked.

"True," Scott reasoned, "but just knowing that I get to see you tomorrow makes it seem like a lot better of a place."

Bailey could feel herself blushing as she heard Scott's words, "well, I can't wait to see you tomorrow either. Even if the first time that you see me in four months is when I will be getting off of a plane after leaving early in the morning with really bad hair and probably being cranky."

"That sounds promising," Scott laughed, "but you will be beautiful no matter how I see you."

"Thanks Scott," Bailey sighed, "you really know how to charm a girl."

"I do, don't I?" he joked, but for the first time in a long time, Bailey did not laugh at his joke.

00000

Bailey and Lainey approached the restaurant that night, laughing and talking about their summer plans. As they opened the door, they noticed Sarah and Vanessa already sitting down, apparently doing the same thing.

"Hey guys," Vanessa greeted as they joined the table. They had decided to meet up for dinner and then go on to do their sending off of the pants.

"Craig asked how you were doing today," Lainey casually told Vanessa.

"And you said?" Vanessa quirked an eyebrow at the girl.

"I told him you were fine," Lainey replied, "you should really talk to him."

As Bailey and Sarah could feel the awkward tension in the room rising, mainly due to the friction between Lainey and Vanessa ever since Craig and Vanessa's break-up. Lainey believed that it was Vanessa's fault, even though they had told everybody that it was a mutual break-up, only giving enough details to say somebody else was involved. For Lainey, that meant that somebody else must have been for Vanessa, and was Seth. Vanessa had never confirmed, or denied this thinking to Lainey, even though she knew full well what Lainey thought.

"Okay," Vanessa shrugged it off, then turning to Bailey, "so, did you talk to Scott today?"

This seemed to increase the tension somewhat as Bailey and Lainey shared a secret glance before Bailey answered, "Yeah, I can't wait to see him tomorrow."

"It's so cute how you two stayed together for the entire year," Sarah smiled, trying to lighten the mood.

"Well, you know how it goes, when you really like someone, you try to make the relationship work as much as you can," Bailey shrugged. Not even realizing the implications of her words until after they had already left her mouth, and then when looking at Vanessa, saw her with a slightly amused expression on her face, felt somewhat better.

"Anyways," Vanessa laughed it off, "what's everybody going to get to eat?"

00000

"That was so awkward," Sarah told Vanessa later as they were heading towards the meeting place to send off the pants for the summer. They had decided to split up after supper for a little bit before meeting back here. Sarah and Vanessa had gone to get snow cones.

"You think?" Vanessa let out a chuckle, "I was never really either of their friends before, but now Lainey hates me because her brother and I broke up."

"And she's so subtle about it," Sarah giggled as they entered the building to find Lainey and Bailey already there.

Lainey already had the pants lying out on the ground, next to some snacks for the group to eat. Sarah and Vanessa sat and completed the circle. All of the earlier tension between the girls seemed to vanish as they sat around this magical pair of pants. Each girl knew in their own way that it was only the magic of the pants that could make this occasion so enjoyable for all of them, and not awkward at all.

"So, we will start by drawing names to see who gets the pants first," Lainey smiled, holding out a cup to each of the girls in turn with a number in it.

"Sweet, number one," Bailey announced.

"Okay, now we review the rules," Sarah said, in a somewhat ceremonious voice, bringing out the rules and reading them off.

"Before we take the oath," Vanessa chipped in, "I would just like to say a couple of words about our summers. With Lainey partaking in an excellent competition, Bailey going back to a camp where she found true friendship, Sarah staying in town to help with cheerleading, and myself visiting my family, I feel like this summer is a very crucial point in our lives. Next year, we will all be seniors and deciding what colleges and such to go to."

The others all grinned as they thought about Vanessa's words. They would be seniors next year, and while they weren't the best of friends, last summer and during the school year they had come to rely on each other somewhat.

"To honor the Pants and the Sisterhood and this moment and this summer and the rest of our lives, together and apart," all of the girls chimed in, bringing their ceremony to an end.

As each girl began to get up to go home, they all felt the greatness that this summer would hopefully bring.


	3. Chapter Two

Disclaimer: I do not own Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, however the new girls are mine, as are many of the other characters!

"_Some times things fall apart for other things to fall into place."_

_-Unknown_

Chapter Two

Bailey had woken up early on her first day of camp, like she had the summer before But, unlike the summer before she was actually looking forward to camp and had automatically jumped up, turned off her alarm, and ran to the shower. And now, here she was, standing in almost the exact same place she had been last year, ready to hop on the plane.

"Are you sure you packed everything?" her mom asked, in a worried tone.

"Mom, I checked everything four times," Bailey said, bouncing back and forth on her heels.

"But, honey, I just want to make sure we don't need to buy you anything quickly," Tibby smiled, "I'm glad you are so happy about going, but aren't you going to miss your mom?"

"Mom!" Bailey said, exasperated, "you know I'll miss you. It's just I haven't seen most of these people since last summer, and I'm excited about it."

"Okay, honey," Tibby laughed, "go ahead and get on the plane."

Bailey turned around and almost began to run towards the plane before turning back and giving her mom a hug, "I love you mom, and I'll see you at the end of the summer."

"I love you too," Tibby called after her daughter, "can't wait to see you!"

Bailey ran onto the plane and settled back into her seat after going through all the precautions. She smiled as she picked up a magazine. She had a growing sense of anxiety as she waited for the plane to take off. She knew this was going to be a long journey.

99999

Lainey hopped out of bed, ready to go. She wasn't super excited about taking a bus from Maryland to California, but that's the way the team was traveling, since they were the New England region team they were all somewhat in the same area. Plus, she got to have a roommate for her trip, and she just knew that it was going to be the best summer of her life.

"Are you all ready?" her dad asked in amusement an hour later as she came traipsing down the stairs, trying to carry all of her things with her at once. A few seconds behind her, however, was Craig, carrying everything else that she wasn't.

"Honey, have you seen my ..," Bridget walked down the stairs, forgetting what she was going to ask about as she saw her daughter's luggage already at the bottom of the stairs.

Forty-five minutes later, Lainey and her family were at the bus station, Lainey's stuff already loaded up. All of the soccer players were saying there last minute good-byes to families before heading to California for the summer.

As Lainey hugged Bridget, her mom said, "we'll try and make it down for one of your games."

"So that way we can make fun of you," her brother added hopefully. Lainey just stuck her tongue out at her brother before gracefully entering the bus.

999999

Sarah got to the gym at about seven a.m.. She had never been at school this early in her life and didn't want to do it ever again. Her friend, Rebecca, was already waiting in the gym.

"What took you so long?" Rebecca asked cheerfully, handing her a coffee as they sat down.

"Are you one of those cheery morning people that I will want to shoot before this summer is over?" Sarah groaned.

"Okay then," Rebecca laughed. Rebecca and Sarah had gotten the unglamorous job of running the cheerleading camp for younger kids because they were both new recruits and new students to the school.

"Rebecca, Sarah," a voice called out to them, sounding her usually bossy self. They both jumped out as Susie approached them. Oh yeah, the other reason Sarah and Rebecca had this job was because Susie was mad that Rebecca had befriended Sarah, who she still hated from last summer.

"Hey Susie," Rebecca greeted, trying not to laugh at the look of contempt on her face.

"Okay, the little kids will be arriving tomorrow morning promptly at eight. And since you two are running this camp, you will have to be here promptly at seven a.m.," Susie icily told them, "that way you can set up and practice."

"Thanks," Sarah said, a sarcastic tone in her voice, "because I don't think we got that from the first, oh, I don't know, ten times you told us exactly how to run this thing. If you are that worried about it, why don't we leave, and you can run it?"

"I would," Susie hesitated before continuing, but then suddenly burst forth, "but I have to take care of the older kids in the afternoon, and you have to contribute your part."

"Fine," Rebecca rolled her eyes, "I think the point Sarah was trying to make was, either let us do it ourselves and shut up, or you can do it yourself and we'll leave."

"I see," Susie said, coldly, "then I guess I will leave the two who have never done this before to their own devices."

"That would be nice," Sarah smiled. Susie, without another word or smile, turned around and stomped back out of the gym.

"You know, minus the having to be incredibly early in the morning and having to deal with little kids, I think I'm going to actually enjoy being here at this time," Sarah turned to Rebecca, "well, mainly because demon cheerleader won't be here."

"Yup," Rebecca agreed, laughing as the two began to set up the gym.

99999

Vanessa was already in a bad mood when her parents decided to send her to the store for a few items that they had not yet gotten for the trip.

"Vanessa?" she heard a voice behind her as she was reaching for some toothpaste. She whirled around to see Craig standing behind her.

"Craig," she said, trying to not let the shakiness in her voice give her away.

"Hey, how have you been?" Craig asked, somewhat awkwardly as they began to walk down the aisle together.

"Oh, you know, the usual, school and the paper," Vanessa shrugged, hoping her voice didn't sound as awkward as Craig's sounded, but knowing it probably did.

"This is awkward isn't it?" Craig finally said, not being able to keep that particular thought out of his head any longer. Vanessa couldn't help but smile at this statement. But, while she was smiling she couldn't help but feel a little sad because she and Craig had grown so close last summer, and here they were, a year later, acting as if they barely knew each other.

"Yup," she replied, "It shouldn't be though. We broke up on good terms."

"I agree," Craig tried to return a smile, "do you have any big plans for this summer?"

"We're going to visit my grandparents, leaving later today," she sighed, feeling as if the small talk was suffocating her, "actually, I should probably get home. They might think I got lost when I was just going for toothpaste and a backpack for mom's personal care items."

"Okay, well, have a good summer," Craig said.

"Bye," she said. After he walked off, she let out a long breath. She hadn't been expecting to see him so soon after the break-up. And it felt weird.

99999

"Scott!" Bailey exclaimed, jumping into his arms as she entered the airplane terminal to see Scott waiting for her flight to get there.

"Hey babe," he greeted, giving her a kiss, "let's go get your luggage."

As the two began to walk to grab her luggage, they talked in rapid voices about what had been going on since they had last seen each other. After getting her bags, they started to head towards the bus that would take them to camp, but before they made it all the way, they heard a voice yelling her name behind them.

"Madison!" Bailey yelled back as the two girls hugged, "I can't believe I haven't seen you since last summer!"

"And you look so cute," Madison looked at her outfit, and then noticed Scott behind her, "Scott! Hey, how are you?"

"I'm good," he smiled back, "but we should probably get to the bus."

The three then headed back towards the bus, Madison and bailey talking more animatedly than Scott and Bailey had been a few minutes ago. They had a lot to catch up on.

99999

Lainey had popped in the headphones to her I-Pod as soon as she had sat down on the bus. She was beginning to think that no one was going to sit next to her when a cute guy came and motioned to ask if he could sit down. Lainey quickly pulled out her headphones.

"Hey, go ahead and sit down," she smiled at him. After he was seated, she asked, "isn't this supposed to be the girl's team?"

"Yeah," he laughed, "I'm one of the trainers, since I want to be a trainer after I graduate from college."

"And are there lots of trainers?" Lainey arched an eyebrow. Thinking that if all the guys were going to be cute as this one, she was in for an even better summer than she had anticipated.

"There's about ten of us," he smiled, "by the way, my name is Luke."

"Lainey," she shook his hand, "are you in college right now?"

"I'm about to be a sophomore," he explained, "and this is the best summer internship I got. It's my second year to be here. It's a good opportunity."

"You have no idea how exciting you just made this summer," Lainey flashed him a smile.

99999999

Sarah and Rebecca laughed as they walked in the diner. They had just finished setting up the gym and practicing cheers to show the little kids and decided to go get some lunch before heading home and taking naps.

"Anyways, I think we should have the easiest job of the summer," Rebecca concluded as they reached the counter, "because we don't have the girls who are old enough to think they know everything."

Sarah was about to respond to this when she saw a familiar face coming through the door of the diner. She quickly hopped away from the counter and towards a table, grabbing a menu on her way.

"Um, what are you doing?" Rebecca asked, as she joined her at the table. Sarah opened the menu, blocking her face as she did so.

"Just wanted to sit down to eat," Sarah said, uneasily. Rebecca shrugged, not really believing her, but deciding not to question her motive anyway.

Sarah looked up from behind the menu every once in a while, unusually skiddish, as they waited for their waitress. Sarah was nervous because her ex-boyfriend, Carlos, had just walked into the restaurant.

9999

Vanessa sat down on the plane, sighing heavily. After practically sprinting out of the store, she had realized what a total idiot she had been. Then, when she got home, her parents had asked her what was wrong, and the only thing Vanessa could honestly say was that she was more prepared for this trip than she had ever thought she would be.

"Are you okay?" her mom whispered to her as she buckled her seatbelt. To add on top of all of the rest of it, Vanessa hated flying in planes. She wasn't really scared; she just always managed to get sick.

"I'm fine mom," Vanessa snapped. She knew her mom wasn't only talking about the plane ride, and her parents would not stop asking her what was wrong. While she loved the new relationship she had with her parents, sometimes she just wanted them to butt out.

"Okay then," her mom said, a hurt expression on her face as she turned to her husband.

Vanessa sighed, knowing she should apologize. But, instead, she leaned her head against the head rest and began to drift off to an uneasy sleep for the trip.


	4. Chapter Three

"_It is with our passions, as it is with fire and water, they are good servants but bad masters."_

_-Aesop_

Chapter Three

Lainey hopped off the bus after a very long ride. They had barely stopped once on there way from Bethesda to California, leaving her legs feeling cramped and her back hurting. However, she would gladly go on that ride again to be able to talk to Luke again. He was cute, funny, and knew all the right words to say. She could feel all the girls staring at her as she laughed with him on the bus.

"Well, I'll catch up with you later," Luke promised her as he got off the bus, "I have to go meet up with the other trainers."

"See you then," Lainey gave him her award-winning smile, tossing her golden hair behind her shoulder as she turned around to walk towards the area where the new soccer players were supposed to check-in.

As Lainey was patiently waiting in line to check-in and for her room assignment she heard a couple people talking behind her, whispering as to not be overheard, but loud enough to were people could still here them.

"I can't believe she came back," one of the girls whispered. Lainey tried to ignore them by focusing all of her energy on the front of the line, but couldn't help but overhear them gossip about some poor defenseless girl who had for some reason or the other had to leave early the year before.

Finally, Lainey sighed and turned around to the two girls, "look, I know you guys are enjoying your little gossip session back here. And I'm not sure if you think you're being quiet or not, but if you think you are, here's a hint, you're not. So if you could so very kindly shut up, it would be much appreciated."

The two girls just stared at her, both at a lack of words.

99999

Bailey set her stuff on one of the bunk beds as Madison quickly followed by setting hers on the bunk bed right next to Bailey's.

"So, how's Scott?" Madison asked, wanting some gossip as they began to unpack their belongings. They seemed to be the only two in the cabin so far, so Bailey sighed, preparing to tell Madison how she was feeling like Scott was suffocating her. He called her all the time, talked for hours, and even needed to know where she was all the time, even if he wasn't in the same town.

Before she could start talking, however, they both heard a voice loudly say, "hello? Anybody in here?"

"Shannon?" Bailey questioned as she got up from the bed and headed towards the door of the cabin. When there she discovered that it was, in fact, Shannon coming into the cabin. Shannon had numerous suitcases surrounding her, looking as if she was going to be at camp for a year instead of the two months that she was actually going to be there.

"Hey!" Shannon greeted, "I haven't seen you in a long time."

"Same here," Bailey grinned, taking one of Shannon's suitcases to put it by a bed, "how was your school year?"

"You know, same old, same old, made people cry, kissed a few boy's, the general thing I do," Shannon laughed, and finally noticed Madison putting her stuff away.

"Hey Madison," she greeted, somewhat cheerfully. Madison looked up, surprised by the nice greeting considering that last year they hadn't been the greatest of friends.

Bailey grinned at Madison from behind Shannon's back. Shannon was a hard person to figure out and also happened to be Scott's ex-girlfriend, so any thought Bailey had of telling Madison about her problems with Scott would have to wait.

"Hey Shannon," Madison finally greeted back after several seconds of awkward silence.

"Anyways, I think we should probably get going and see if we can catch up with some of the boys," Shannon suggested, trying to find a way to fill the awkwardness.

"Yeah," Bailey jumped at the suggestion, "so that way we can give the rest of the girls a chance to get their stuff in here and go ahead and settle in. I wonder who else from last year will be here."

"Not Beth or Jen," Madison reminded her as they headed towards the door, "both of them are too old now."

"And what a loss," Shannon muttered under her breath, unsuccessfully however as Madison turned to glare at her.

"I'm thinking now is not a good time for you two to start fighting," Bailey curbed a fight she knew was coming.

"Fine," both girls muttered, not looking at one another. Bailey sighed, knowing it was going to be a long summer if this was the way that the two girls were going to act around each other all the time.

99999

The two girls quickly recovered from their shock, however and glared at Lainey.

"What makes you think you can talk to us like that?" one of the girls demanded, "you weren't even here last year."  
"And I'm so happy you were," Lainey rolled her eyes, "but, and I'm only going to say this once: I don't care if you were here for the last forty years, if you don't shut up I'm going to show you why exactly I was picked for the team this year. And if you didn't get what that meant, I'm going to use your head as a soccer ball to shut you up."

"My name's Sherilyn," one of the girls smiled at her, holding out her hand, "you're really feisty."

"Thanks?" Lainey offered, shaking the girl's hand, and then shaking the other one's hand, "my name is Lainey."

"Carol," the other girl said, offering a half smile, "wait, weren't you the one sitting next to Luke on the bus?"

"Yup," Lainey smiled, "he's a nice guy."

"He's cute," Sherilyn smiled, a little jealously, "looks like your summer could be really interesting."

"Oh, you have no idea," Lainey said, knowing that she usually got what she wanted. And she knew what she wanted.

99999

"Okay, Rebecca, I'm going to go get some more mats," Sarah said, looking at all the girls already assembled for their first day, "do you think you can handle check in by yourself?"

"I'm sure I'll be fine," Rebecca rolled her eyes at her, "its not like it can be that hard."

"Well, just holler if you get backed up," Sarah instructed, leaving the room. Sarah ran and got about twenty more mats from the locker room while shaking her head. There were a lot of girls here for it being only the first day and there being only two of them.

And, now she was freaking out about seeing Carlos yesterday. She had come a long way from last year, but she still felt vulnerable now that he was back. She was just glad that she hadn't had to talk to him.

When she came back upstairs she saw a grinning Rebecca talking to the girls.

"I so have to talk to you afterwards," Rebecca whispered to her as they went to the front of the gym, "I just met the cutest guy ever in existence."

99999

Vanessa sat her suitcase down in the room of her grandma's house. Her aunt and her new boyfriend, or something like that, were also supposed to be visiting, so it would shape up to be an interesting summer. Vanessa couldn't help but think that if Uncle Paul, Aunt Lena, Sarah, and her younger brother all came down they could just have their own mini-family reunion.

"Vanessa?" she could hear her aunt's voice drift up the stairs. She bound down them rather excited. She hadn't seen her Aunt Krista in about two years.

"Hey!" she yelled, hugging her aunt, who looked rather startled.

"Hello?" Krista said, somewhat amused. Her aunt still had the ability to phrase everything she said in a form of a question.

"How are you?" Vanessa asked, and then noticed the guy standing beside her aunt. She cleared her throat and stuck out her hand, saying, "my name is Vanessa."

"Frank," the guy replied, shaking her hand, looking somewhat taken aback. Just then Vanessa's mom and dad came down the stairs, smiling at Krista and Frank.

"Hey Krista, hey Frank," Carmen greeted. Vanessa looked at her mom, who had greeted Frank as if he was an old friend when Vanessa was sure that her mom said he was a recent addition to Krista's love life.

"How are you?" Krista asked, giving her stepsister a hug.

"Good," Carmen said, avoiding the gaze of Krista.

"I think we need to talk," Krista pointedly said, looking at Vanessa.

Carmen looked nervously between Vanessa and Krista before nodding, "okay, let's go in the family room. Vanessa, why don't you go unpack?"

"I think I can take a hint mom," Vanessa rolled her eyes, "you want me to leave so you can talk about me."

"Honey," her mom warned.

"I'm gone," Vanessa shrugged, leaving the room. She couldn't help but feel curious about what her aunt and her parents were going to talk about.

9999

"Okay girls, that's it," Sarah announced a couple of hours later, "you're parents should be picking you up any moment, so go ahead and pack your things."

Rebecca smiled at the kids before turning to Sarah, "I'm going to run the extra mats back where they belong. But, we should get lunch after this, I so want to tell you about this guy."

"Okay, sounds good to me," Sarah smiled, turning back to the girls, who were waiting for their parents to come, practicing cheers and talking.

"Hey girls," she smiled at them, heading towards the doors, "did you have fun on your first day?"

There was a chorus of yes's from the girls, with a couple of complaints hidden in there. Before Sarah could continue to question them, a voice spoke up behind her.

"Um, I'm here to pick up my sister," Sarah turned around at the all too familiar voice and saw Carlos standing behind her. Before Sarah could say anything, a little girl ran up and gave Carlos a hug.

"Hey Ashley," he smiled at her, before looking at Sarah again, who was still looking somewhat speechless.

"Carlos!" Rebecca said excitedly as she rejoined the group, "I see you've met Sarah."

"We've met before," Sarah said, knowing she needed to sit down and fast.

"Oh," Rebecca looked confused. Carlos looked between the two girls for a moment before finally turning to Rebecca.

"Hey Rebecca, why don't we talk for a minute?" Carlos asked, leading her outside as his sister followed them. Sarah tried to smile at the rest of the girls.

"See, isn't he hot?" Rebecca asked a minute later as she came back in, grinning.

99999

Vanessa sat curiously in her room, opening and closing a book that she was planning on reading this summer. She couldn't concentrate, however, because she wanted to know what was being said down in the family room.

"It won't hurt to listen for just a second," Vanessa reasoned, hopping out of her bed and walking down the stairs quietly.

"We didn't tell her because we didn't know how she was going to handle it," Carmen was explaining about something.

"The whole reason that Frank is even here is because she is supposed to know," Krista pointed out.

"We know," Carmen said reluctantly, "but … she had a really bad spring semester. Her and her boyfriend broke up over Christmas, and basically it just really stunk and we didn't want to throw a curve ball at her."

"Tomorrow," Krista sighed, "we tell her tomorrow."

"Okay," Carmen sighed, "we'll tell her tomorrow."

Vanessa ran back up the stairs before the four adults came out of the family room. As she shut her door, she wondered what she was already supposed to know. Maybe Krista was getting married. Or maybe she was secretly married all these years and was now getting a divorce. Vanessa smiled, whatever it was, she would figure it out tomorrow.


	5. Chapter Four

"_Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception  
of guppies, who like to eat theirs. "  
-P.J. O'Rourke_

Chapter Four

Sarah dialed Vanessa's number and then hung back up the phone. Then, she did the same thing with Seth's number. She knew that if she called either of them they would drop whatever they were doing to come be with her. Seth, who was leaving tomorrow, would stop packing to come talk to her even though she knew he was far behind in his packing. And Vanessa, who had made it to her grandparents yesterday would be on the next flight as soon as she could back to Bethesda to personally see Sarah through this mess. She didn't want either of them to give up their summer plans for her. She had to face this on her own.

Rebecca was actually going to go out with Carlos. Sarah didn't like that. She knew she needed to talk to Rebecca, warn her about Carlos. But, would Rebecca believe her? Sarah was sure she wouldn't have believed anybody last year had they told her this about Carlos. Heck, even when Vanessa had tried to warn her about Carlos she hadn't believed her.

"Sarah?" her mom called up the stairs, "your friend Rebecca is here to see you."

Sarah smiled. Maybe it wouldn't be so difficult to tell Rebecca about this. She and Rebecca had become close friends over the last year, Rebecca would surely believe her over the new boy she had just met.

"Hey," Rebecca smiled, holding out a coffee to Sarah, "I know it must have been awkward seeing Carlos back there in the gym."

"What are you talking about?" Sarah asked, confused. She knew that it had been awkward, but she didn't see how Rebecca would have known that it was awkward.

"Because you used to date him," Rebecca explained, still smiling, "Carlos told me whenever we talked outside after class. I didn't realize that you had dated him or else I wouldn't have made it as awkward as it was."

"Right," Sarah said, forcing herself to smile. So, Carlos had known that she would probably tell Rebecca about the events of last summer and beat her to the punch and told Rebecca that they had dated first, "what exactly did he tell you happened in our break up?"

"He said that he broke your heart and that he regretted it," Rebecca shrugged.

"Oh really?" Sarah quirked an eyebrow, "I'm glad he could admit that he did that much."

"Well, he seems like a genuine guy," Rebecca shrugged, "so, do you want to go get some pizza?"

As Sarah followed Rebecca out the door, she felt the rage inside. Carlos had told Rebecca that he had hurt her. So know anything she said would just come back to sounding like what he said. What a manipulative jerk. Sarah had to find a way to rescue Rebecca from him, and she had to do it fast.

99999

Lainey looked at her roommate, who was throwing a soccer ball towards the ceiling and catching it while lying on her bed. Lainey had met her roommate, Riley, yesterday and had tried to get her to come out with the rest of the soccer team, but she had refused. So, Lainey was determined to get her to come out tonight.

"Hey, we're all going to the club tonight, you should come," Lainey tried the blunt approach. Riley stopped throwing her ball to look at Lainey.

"I don't think so," she said calmly.

"Why not?" Lainey demanded, "that's what you said last night too."

"Because I don't like to party," Riley retorted. Lainey looked the girl up and down and shook her head. She was pretty good at judging people's partying abilities, and knew Riley must have some heavy ones. Besides, they were starting practices tomorrow so they had to have fun while they still could.

"You look like you could hold your own," Lainey commented. Riley didn't respond. Just then Lainey heard a knock on the door.

"Fine then, don't come," Lainey huffily said, "but you will never make any friends if you don't try and make them."

With that she bound out the door and found Luke standing on the other side, amused.

"Happy to see me?" he asked.

"My roommate still refuses to come out," Lainey shook her head, "even when I told her about the hot guy last night when we came in. She just rolled over and went back to sleep."

"Well, not everybody has as much fun as you do," Luke reasoned, throwing an arm around the girl, "You are pretty fun."

"Thanks," Lainey smiled up at him, happy. They walked down the hallway towards the elevator. They were going to meet the other trainers and some of the other girls at the first floor lobby.

"Lainey!" Liz shouted as they came off the elevator. Her and her friend, Sandy, were standing in the entrance already with their trainers of the summer, Greg and Curtis.

"Hey guys," Lainey smiled. After their initial meeting, the three girls had decided to become friends for the summer. Already Lainey had had their back when they had been out last night when one of the other girls tried to hit on Greg and Curtis. The only weird thing was that every time she mentioned her roommate, they both seemed to tense up.

The six just continued to talk until the rest of the group showed up. A total of about eighteen of them ended up in the group, most of them the trainers. The group then began to set out towards a club.

"So, how is Riley?" Liz asked, trying to suppress laughter. She looked like she didn't want Lainey to see, but Lainey didn't know how she was supposed to avoid seeing her trying not to laugh.

"Fine," Lainey shrugged. When Liz went off laughing, she looked at Luke who she could swear was not meeting her eye. And this only made Lainey wonder more about what was going on.

99999

Bailey sighed as she sat down at the tree stump. Scott had barely left her side since she had gotten here yesterday. In fact, she was sure the only reason he had left her side was because she was sleeping or going to the bathroom, neither of which he could follow her into without serious consequences.

"Why so glum chum?" a cheerful voice spoke up as somebody joined her. Bailey looked up and saw Beth standing in front of her.

"Beth!" she yelled, jumping off the log and hugging her friend, "what are you doing here?"

"Because I'm a counselor in training here," Beth smiled, "did you really think I was going to let you and Madison try and run Camp Teens by yourself? In fact, I'm even in your cabin."

"This is so amazing," Bailey smiled, "You are just the person I need."

"Relationship problems?" Beth raised her eyebrow as they both sat back down on the grass.

"How did you know?" Bailey asked, amazed.

"Because you always got that sad, pouty look on your face last year when you were thinking of Scott," Beth pointed out.

"Okay," Bailey said slowly.

"And since you already have Scott, thanks to me," Beth smiled, "it must be something to do with your relationship with him."

"He's always around," Bailey sighed, "I really like him, but he's just too clingy. By the end of the school year he took to calling me four or five times a day. And I know a lot of girls would find that sweet, and I'm sure Shannon was one of them, but I had a life and he was interfering with it by calling me all the time. He's barely let me out of his sight since we got here yesterday, the only reason I'm here now is because I practically sprinted off when one of his friends started talking to him. What do I do?"

"That's quite a load of crazy," Beth smiled at her, "but, you know what? You waited so long last year to actually go out with him, I think you guys have just hit a rut in your relationship."

"You really think so?" Bailey asked, in an excited voice, "because if that's it, I can totally deal. I'll just ask him to give me a little more space."

"Exactly, and if he's the good boyfriend I know he can be," Beth smiled, "he will totally give it to you."

Bailey and Beth then stood up to make their way back towards camp. Bailey felt a whole lot better now. And then she felt even better when she realized that she still had the traveling pants in her suitcase and knew the perfect time to wear them before having to ship them off to Sarah, who was stuck in Bethesda by herself for the summer. She was going to wear the pants to give her strength to talk to Scott about his controlling attitude.

99999

Vanessa walked down the stairs humming. She was really glad she was getting to see her grandparents and her aunt, but she was still curious about what her parents had been talking about with her aunt yesterday. She had spent a lot of the night thinking about it, even though she knew she would find out today, she was still wondering what it could possibly be.

"Honey," her mom said, somewhat anxiously as she appeared beside her daughter, "I was wondering if we could talk to you for a moment."

"Okay," Vanessa replied, somewhat uncertainly, but also very happy as she followed her mom into the living room.

"What is this an intervention?" Vanessa laughed as she looked around not only at her parents, but her aunt and Frank, and her grandparents. However, nobody laughed at the statement and Vanessa took a deep sigh before sitting down.

"We have something we need to tell you," her mom kindly said as she sat down also, "well, honey …,"

She then looked at Krista desperate for help, who jumped in to try and help, "you know how last summer you found out you were adopted?"

"Yeah, what does that …," Vanessa began, but then stopped. Of course, she had to be really dense. Adoption … Krista and Frank … her parents actually knowing Frank … the weird part was, looking at them she could actually see some resemblance, Vanessa then turned to Carmen and whispered, "mom?"

Her mom just nodded, knowing that it had been a questioning tone in her voice about whether she was right or not, not about what the entire subject was about.

"But …," Vanessa trailed off, looking at Krista and Frank, and then her parents and then her grandparents, "but … that means I'm more blood related to grandma than I am to grandpa. And Sarah is really my cousin, Paul is really, like true blood, my uncle … and Krista, you gave birth to me?"

Krista just nodded and then Vanessa turned to Frank, "and you are my dad?"

Frank also nodded, but then decided to add, "we broke up before Krista found out she was pregnant with you. Carmen and Phil really wanted a child, so we thought it would be best for you."

"Best for me, or best for you two who wouldn't have to put up with me?" Vanessa said icily.

The more Vanessa got used to the idea of Krista and Frank being her birth parents, the less she liked it. All those years, they had all been lying to her and she had never known it. Her entire world had changed last summer when she had found out she was adopted, and she felt like this was also going to be a momentous change in her life with now knowing who her real parents were.

"I think I need to be alone," Vanessa said, before anybody could reply to her rude question. With those words, she got up and left the room, heading for upstairs.

"What now?" she whispered to herself as she sat down on her bed.


	6. Chapter Five

"_Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of. The tree is the real thing."_

_-Abraham Lincoln_

Chapter Five

Sarah went over again in her head what she wanted to say to Rebecca when she pointed out how Carlos was no good. She wasn't sure how Rebecca was going to react, but she hoped that it would be nice and happy for the fact that Sarah was concerned about her.

She also knew there was a good chance that Rebecca wasn't going to listen to her, like she hadn't listened to Vanessa, but she was willing to risk it to make sure that her friend was safe. Rebecca was her only friend on the cheerleading squad, however, and if she hated Sarah after this, Sarah wasn't quite sure what she would do.

"You're distracted," Rebecca commented to Sarah as they finished setting up the gym for the cheerleading camp that day, "in fact, you've been distracted all week. You're not still upset about me going out on a date with Carlos are you?"

Sarah knew that this was the perfect opportunity to tell Sarah what exactly had gone down between her and Carlos, especially since the girls weren't due for another fifteen minutes. So, she took a deep breath and braced herself for a conversation that she was sure was going to lead to lots of problems.

"Rebecca, there's something I have to tell you," Sarah finally let out in one big breath, "and it is about Carlos and the problem I have with you two dating, but not in the way you think it does."

"I'm listening," Rebecca answered, looking rather curious.

99999

"Bailey!" Scott said as she approached the mess hall for dinner, "I haven't seen you since this afternoon. I missed you."

"Scott, we need to talk," Bailey attempted to smile at him, "now."

"Okay," Scott said, a little worried and followed her to a group of trees outside the mess hall, "did I do something wrong?"

"Yes and no," Bailey finally smiled, "I really like you Scott. And I'm glad I'm going out with you. But, you can't try and spend every minute of every day with me. I need my space. I need my friends."

"Well, that was pretty straight forward," Scott broke out in a grin, "that's what I like about you Bailey."

"Scott, did you even listen to what I said?" Bailey asked him, frustrated at his apparent lack of interest in what she had said.

"Yeah, I did," Scott quit smiling and turned serious, "I understand. I probably should be a little less clingy. Does that make you feel better?"

"Yes," Bailey said, with relief, so he was paying attention after all, "you're really a sweet guy when you're not being clingy."

"I'll take that as a compliment," Scott threw his arm around her, "so, do you want to grab some dinner or do you want to eat with your friends. Because either way I'll understand."

"You know I like spending time with you," Bailey smiled at him, "so, let's go grab some dinner so I can talk about how disgusting it is to watch you eat."

"Hey!" Scott protested as he ran to catch up with her.

00000

"Time for practice," Riley sing-sang as she threw open the curtains the next morning. Lainey grunted and rolled over for more sleep, "You have to get up or the coach will kill you for missing the first day of practice."

"Why?" Lainey asked dramatically as she sat up, "why must practice start at seven in the morning?"

"Why must you be out until three partying?" Riley asked dryly, not in the least bit sorry for her roommate's dilemma.

"Because Luke is hot," Lainey smiled, jumping out of bed, "which reminds me, we will get to see him today!"

"Whatever it takes to get you out of bed," Riley shook her head, in slight amusement, slight reluctance to actually find her roommate's enthusiasm for the boy that she had barely known for three days.

"Okay, let's go," Lainey said, about five minutes later when she bounced out of the bathroom with her long blonde hair in a loose ponytail, cleats on, and her soccer practice clothes on.

"Are you even able to get dressed that fast?" Riley asked in amazement, looking at how great Lainey looked even though she had gotten up less than five minutes ago.

"Apparently so," it was Lainey's turn to sing as the two began to walk out into the hall, laughing. Soon, however, there laughter stopped whenever Sherilyn and Carol walked out of their room and threw them disgruntled looks.

"Why in the world are you two so happy?" Sherilyn asked, looking in disdain at Riley, who quickly dropped behind them. Lainey looked questioning between Sherilyn and Carol, and then Riley, who shrugged.

"Because we get a great day of training," Lainey smiled, "and running. Does anybody want to go out for a run tonight? I feel so energetic I could run forever."

"After a few hours of practice you will not be wanting to run anymore," Carol assured her. Lainey just shrugged in response. Whenever she got hyped up, there was no stopping her.

"So, how's your roommate?" Sherilyn dropped her voice down low to where Riley couldn't hear her. Lainey frowned.

"She's just as fine as she was when you asked that last night whenever we were going out," Lainey reminded her, "I don't know why you have a problem with her, she's a nice girl."

"Really nice," Carol laughed, "she gets along with everybody."

"Somehow I get the feeling that you two aren't telling me something," Lainey said, suspiciously, "I will figure it out. And soon."

"You probably will," Sherilyn and Carol just kept laughing, "let's just say that Riley has a way of getting around.

Lainey turned around and could see Riley frozen in the hallway. Apparently, as quiet as Sherilyn and Carol had tried to be, they hadn't succeeded very well because Riley must have heard every word. And the look on her face was one of a very sad girl.

00000

"Vanessa, can we talk?" she heard her mom asking. Vanessa had pretty much barricaded herself in her room. She knew from her experience last summer that running away was no way to handle your problems. But, she wasn't quite sure how else she was supposed to deal with the fact that her aunt was really her mom. That this entire time she had gotten the wrong side of blood relatives. It was mind boggling.

"Mom," Vanessa sighed, opening her door, "I know you want to tell me everything will be alright. And I know it will, but I think I just need some time alone. Please."

"Whatever it took you to get through this last time," Carmen smiled at her daughter, "I hope that it's here with you this time. I'm here if you need to talk to me."

Vanessa smiled and gave her mom a quick hug, wanting her to know that everything was going to be okay. After this she threw herself down on her bed. There was no doubt in her mind what had helped her get through this last time.

Craig. The cute, sweet amazing boy that she had dated for a total of about five months before the break-up. The break-up that had been because of someone else entering the picture.

Maybe she should give him a call. Just because they had broken up didn't mean that they couldn't stay friends, right? In fact, that's what they had gone for anyways. And all she wanted to do was talk to him, not actually have him come down and see her. Even though she admitted that she would find that nice.

So, Vanessa summoned all the courage she had and hit the number two on her speed dial (even after their break-up she had never been able to make herself remove him from the first spot on her speed dial).

"Hello?" an uncertain voice answered the phone. Vanessa automatically recognized it as Craig's. She almost hung up the phone until Craig said something else, "Vanessa?"

Vanessa mentally slapped herself. Of course she was calling his cell phone and unless after the break-up he had completely deleted her phone number, he would know it was her. And yet she still hadn't said anything, so she quickly took a deep breath.

"Hey Craig," she finally breathed.

"I was beginning to wonder if I was dreaming," Craig joked, "how are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Vanessa said, with an air of someone who wasn't okay. But, now she was feeling as if she had to back out of this call. Why did she decide to call him? He couldn't help her. They had broken up. No matter how much they had vowed to stay friends, they hadn't. What was she doing?

"Vanessa, what's wrong?" Craig asked, concern filling his voice. Vanessa couldn't help but smile a little at his statement.

"Nothing," Vanessa sighed, "I just … I shouldn't have called you, I'm sorry."

And with that she hurriedly hung up and for the second time flopped back onto her bed.

99999

"Carlos said he hurt you," Rebecca sighed, "what I want to know is why you can't be happy for us now."

"I told you … he didn't only hurt me, he really hurt me," Sarah protested.

"What did he do? Cheat on you?" Rebecca questioned, "because he's really changed from last summer if that's the case."

"How do you know if he's changed at all?" Sarah argued, "you didn't even know him last summer. He could still be the same jerk."

"I think you are just jealous," Rebecca commented, "you're jealous of the fact that he hurt you and didn't like you anymore and now he wants to go out with me."

"I don't know quite how to respond to that," Sarah said slowly, "I really can't give you any details, but I wish that you would just trust me and not go out with him."

"I know you're still hurting," Rebecca said consolingly, "but, I'm not going to give up a great guy for it. If it makes you feel better then I won't go anywhere with him that I know you're going to be at."

"It doesn't make me feel any better," Sarah muttered to herself. However, she didn't get a chance to continue because the first girl had arrived in the gymnasium.

"We'll talk more later," Rebecca gave her a meaningful look as she went to greet the girl and her mother.

Sarah sighed. She hadn't expected to have to tell Rebecca what had happened. She didn't know if she was ready to tell someone else.

99999

"Bailey!" Madison yelled when they met up later, "I can't believe that Beth is here as a counselor in training. It's so exciting."

"I can tell you are excited," Bailey said wryly, "I'm sure it will be fun."

"Except she has to act all responsible and stuff," Madison smiled, "because you know, she could get fired if she isn't."

"Darn it," Bailey snapped her fingers, "no more sneaking kitchen food."

"You seem happier," Madison observed as Bailey just smiled at her.

"I am," Bailey said, showing off her jeans, "I am wearing the best jeans in the world."

"Aren't those the jeans you wore to the dance last year?" Madison scrutinized them, "with all the writing on it?"

"Yup," Bailey cheerfully said, linking her arm in Madison's, "let's skip."

"I think we're done here," Madison pulled away from her friend, "If you really want someone to skip with go skip with your boyfriend."

Bailey wasn't sure what had come over her. She just knew she was excited because she had finally talked to Scott and they finally seemed to be on the same page of their relationship. She was at peace. And now she wanted to do something fun. In fact, raiding the kitchen seemed like a lot of fun, even if she had only been kidding earlier. But, who could she get to do something like that with her?


	7. Chapter Six

"_Anger is a killing thing: it kills the man who angers, for each rage leaves him less than he had been before - it takes something from him.__"  
-__Louis L'Amour_

Chapter Six

"Luke is this totally amazing hot guy," Lainey informed her brother as she talked to him on the phone after practice.

"Don't get too caught up too fast," Craig reminded her.

"This coming from the guy who hung out with Vanessa for less than a summer before going out with her," Lainey laughed at him.

"And look how well that turned out," Craig said sarcastically.

"I'm sure she misses you as much as you miss her," Lainey assured him.

"I don't know," Craig sighed, "she called me yesterday."

"Vanessa called you?" Lainey asked, and Craig could almost picture her eyes narrowing.

"It was really weird," Craig thought back to the conversation, "she called, and then basically hung up right away, insisting everything was okay even when I knew it wasn't."

"That's odd," Lainey said flatly.

"Lainey," Riley said to get her attention as she came into the room, "Luke is waiting outside."

Lainey nodded before turning her attention back to her brother, "Don't do anything stupid. Remember, she broke your heart."

"You should probably be the big sister and not the little sister," Craig laughed.

"Oh be quiet," Lainey rolled her eyes, "I got to go so I can go out to eat with Luke and some of the others."

"Have fun," Craig answered, "And enjoy yourself."

After she hung up the phone Lainey turned to look at her roommate, who had flopped down onto her bed. Lainey sighed before grabbing her shoes to put on.

"Let's go out to dinner," Lainey stated.

"With the evil twins?" Riley arched an eyebrow at her roommate, "I think I'll pass."

Lainey contemplated this for a moment. She knew that Riley needed to get out of the room. At first she didn't even know why Riley was here because she wasn't socializing with any of the other girls and it was really awkward. But, after the first couple days of soccer practice, Lainey had realized, Riley was good at soccer. Not just good enough to be on the team, because obviously everybody on the team was good at soccer, but good enough to be one of the three best players on the team. And she loved it. Lainey had never seen her as happy as she was playing soccer, to which Lainey could relate. She really wanted to spend time to get to know Riley, but she didn't know how to do it and also stay friends with the others.

"Nope," Lainey decided, "I figured just you and I could go. We could go to the sandwich shop down the street."

Riley smiled, "Sounds like fun. But, how are you going to break the news to Luke?"

"Simple," Lainey shrugged, "I have him tied around my little finger."

With those words, Lainey flounced out the door to find Luke standing in the hallway, waiting impatiently.

"Hey," he greeted, giving her a hug, "ready to go?"

"I'm not going to dinner with you tonight," Lainey announced, "I am going to hang out with my roommate."

"Lainey …," Luke said hesitantly, "You should be careful around Riley. She could be a bad influence on you."

"Because it is going to get a lot worse than going out to clubs every night," Lainey said sarcastically, but softened the blow by giving Luke a smile, "Look, I'll be fine. Riley is this total hermit that I feel needs to get out and do something. I'll see you tomorrow and I will definitely make it up to you, okay?"

"Fine," Luke sighed, giving her another hug, "I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, Lainey hopped back into the room and announced she was ready to go. Her and Riley grabbed their purses and headed towards the elevator.

"You don't have to hang out with me if you don't want to," Riley quietly told her roommate, "I know that people don't like me and don't want you to hang out with me."

"Then that is their problem," Lainey shrugged, "You are my roommate, we're going to be spending lots of time together this summer. Plus, you are one amazing soccer player and I want to talk to you about were you got some of those moves."

"Thanks," Riley lightened up considerably, "I think that you are a great soccer player too. Between you, me, and I hate to admit this, Carol as goalie, we should do really well for ourselves this year."

"I know, Carol can block a ball really well," Lainey shook her head, "And with our first game being in a week, we really need to buckle down."

The two girls continued towards the restaurant discussing strategies and moves of soccer.

9999

"Susan, I want to talk to you," Sarah demanded as she stepped in front of the booth that Susan was sitting in at the local ice cream shop. She was by herself, and couldn't help but smirk at Sarah.

"What about?" she asked innocently.

"I need a different assignment," Sarah almost pleaded, sitting down.

"What for?" Susan asked sweetly, smiling still.

"You knew," Sarah suddenly said, looking rather suspiciously at Susan, "You knew that the little sister of the devil was enrolling in our class."

"I don't even know the devil," Susan said coldly.

"Whatever, you probably have a direct line to him," Sarah muttered under her breath.

"What did you say?" Susan narrowed her eyes. Sarah quickly breathed deeply, knowing she had to stop being mean to Susan if she was going to get the change. Rebecca and hers fight yesterday had led her to the conclusion that she had to get out of that class and into another one. But, the only person who could approve it was Susan because she would have to find a replacement for Sarah.

"Look, I will do whatever you want, and I swear, whatever you want if you just get me off of that morning shift," Sarah pleaded, sitting down at the table. Susan arched an eyebrow. And despite Susan saying she didn't know the devil, Sarah couldn't help but feel as if she was about to make a deal with him.

99999

"Bailey!" Shannon said the next morning, throwing a pillow at her friend to wake her up, "hurry up. If you aren't in the lunch building in ten minutes, you won't get breakfast."

"Don't even talk about breakfast," Bailey said, sitting up, but then quickly lying back down, "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Don't be sick on me," Shannon hopped away from the bed, "What's the matter with you? Usually you're the first one up."

"Let's just say I stayed up later than I should have," Bailey shook her head.

"Well, then you should get some rest," Shannon eyed her suspiciously, "I'll bring you back a piece of toast just in case you get hungry later."

Bailey nodded and rolled back over to hopefully get more sleep. She had stayed up late the night before while planning with Madison and a couple of the other girls about how to sneak food out of the kitchen. She was sure that it would be fun, and they were planning on going for it tonight.

"Get up lazy," Madison cheerily called as she walked back into the cabin.

"How can you be so cheery this morning?" Bailey groaned.

"Because, unlike you, I'm not fifty years old," Madison shrugged, "Come on, we need to go over our plan one more time to sneak into the kitchen, because I want to make sure everything is perfect."

"Okay, okay, I'm up," Bailey hopped out of bed, a big grin on her face.

00000

"Hey Vanessa, I know there was a reason that you called me yesterday, I was just wondering if you were okay, give me a call back," Vanessa listened to her voice mail as Craig's voice flooded her brain.

She quickly hung up the phone and shook her head. She didn't know what made Craig call her back now, but she knew she definitely would not be calling him back. She still wasn't sure what had come over her to call him yesterday. They didn't talk anymore, the one meeting they had since they broke up had been awkward and unpleasant. And she was sure that wouldn't change even if she was going through something as rough as this whole adoption thing.

"Hey Vanessa," Frank quietly said as he stood in her door frame. Vanessa sighed, remembering that she had forgotten to shut the door.

"Hey Frank," she replied, in a dead sort of tone. She had gotten somewhat used to the idea of Krista and Frank being her parents, but she still couldn't bring herself to actually try and get to know them more than she already did.

"Look, I know we kind of got off to a rough start," Frank stated, and Vanessa snorted, knowing that it was a vast understatement, "But, I would really like it if you would give me another chance and maybe we could get some pizza."

Vanessa contemplated for a moment before answering something that was surprising not only to Frank, but to herself as well, "Sure, that sounds great."

99999

"Will you guys be quiet?" Bailey demanded of the people following her as they made their way to the kitchen. The two other girls had been giggling the entire way while herself and Madison had been trying to shut them up, which Bailey was learning proved to be absolutely fruitless.

"Sorry," one of the girls said guiltily, "We were just thinking about how cool this is."

Bailey couldn't really reprimand them, because she had to admit that she found it cool herself. It gave her a sense of freedom and identity.

"You got to admit, this is pretty cool," Madison whispered to her friend.

"It would be even cooler if you guys didn't get caught," a voice spoke up very coldly behind them. The four whipped around to see Beth standing behind them, arms crossed and tapping her foot.

"Oh crap," Madison whispered to were only Bailey could hear her.

"I----I'm sorry," one of the girls stuttered out. Bailey rolled her eyes. This was already bad without the two of them making things worse by crying and begging.

"Go back to the cabin," Beth ordered the two, "I'll deal with you later."

"Yes ma'am," they both shouted, and sprinted back towards the cabin. Beth then turned to Bailey and Madison, giving them a look of pure venom.

"What the heck were you two thinking?" she shouted, "Did you think just because I was a counselor in training you could get away with anything you wanted?"

"Actually, we were just hoping we wouldn't get caught," Bailey shrugged, breaking out into a grin until Beth silenced her with a look.

"Well, you did get caught," Beth shook her head, "Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Let us go free?" Madison half-heartedly suggested, knowing that Beth wouldn't go for it.

"That would make me sacrifice my counselor in training job if I did that," Beth sighed, "you guys really should have just stayed in the cabin."

"We're really sorry," Bailey quietly said, "We didn't want to put you in this position."

"What position?" Beth demanded to know, "Because I should really turn you in. But, then you guys could get seriously reprimanded."

"And you wouldn't want that for two of your best friends from last year, would you?" Bailey asked, biting the bottom of her lip, praying that the traveling pants that she was wearing tonight before shipping them off would work their magic and make Beth not turn them in. It is not like anybody else would know, right? The other two girls wouldn't breath a word if it got them out of trouble.

"Fine," Beth sighed, shaking her head, "But, I know I'm going to regret this. Run back to the cabin before I change my mind."

Bailey and Madison waited until they were a safe distance away from Beth before high-fiving each other. They knew that they shouldn't have gotten away with that. And they were very happy that they had managed to actually pull it off.

_Hey Sarah!_

_Hope your summer is going great. I think the pants are ready for some real excitement, unlike what I can give them. Summer camp doesn't leave too much time for exciting things. Except, I tried to sneak into the kitchen, but I'll have to tell you about it later because it was a miracle that I didn't get caught. Well, I hope you are having fun in Bethesda and aren't too bored yet!_

_Bailey_


	8. Chapter Seven

"_We're going to make like your personality and split."_

_-Shaggy from Scooby Doo II_

Chapter Seven

"Okay Sarah," Susan said steadily as her and Sarah met for lunch. They had not made a deal when Sarah initially proposed the switching of the schedule, and Sarah was pretty sure she had an idea why. By making Sarah attend one more session of the cheerleading camp that she was desperately trying to get out of and now knowing that she might possibly could get out of it would make her want it more. Which would make her easier to cooperate. Sarah did have to hand it to Susan, it was a good strategy, one that Sarah would have also used.

"Yes Susan?" Sarah responded curtly. She didn't want to do this. She knew it would end badly. But, she couldn't stand seeing Rebecca and Carlos flirting everyday, she knew eventually it would make her best.

"I only have one, simple request in order for me to switch Ashley to mornings and you to afternoons," Susan informed her.

"One request?" Sarah asked suspiciously, "It doesn't require me killing anybody for some kind of sacrifice does it?"

"You are too funny," Susan said dryly, "but in answer to your question, no it does not require you killing anybody."

"Then I'm listening," Sarah said, intrigued by what this one request could possibly be.

"I want you to support me," Susan said simply, "I want you to support what I say in cheerleading practice."

"That's it?" Sarah asked suspiciously. There had to be something more complicated than that to it. She just knew it.

"Look, for some strange reason all the other girls look up to you," Susan rolled her eyes.

"No they don't," Sarah insisted, "They all worship the ground you walk on."

"They only do that because they are scared of me. They think that I'm going to make them run the mornings in cheerleading camp, or spread nasty rumors about them," Susan stated, "But, you, well, for some odd reason, they think you are a great person."

"So, basically to get out of doing morning cheerleading camp all I have to do is agree with everything you say?" Sarah asked again.

"Yes," Susan said, exasperated, "Nod your head in agreement after I make a decision. Stand with me on things."

Sarah contemplated this for a moment. On the surface this didn't seem like a hard thing to do for Susan, but thinking about how it would end up being for her senior year of high school, it could be hell. Having to be Susan's lapdog? She was sure she couldn't do it.

"Are you still thinking?" Susan said with a hint of annoyance.

"Okay, I'll do it," Sarah said reluctantly. She decided that anything was worth not having to see Rebecca and Carlos together. Or Carlos at all.

"Okay," Susan said steadily, "I'll call Ashley right now and you can begin afternoon duty starting tomorrow."

"And how are you going to tell Rebecca?" Sarah asked cautiously.

"Oh, I wasn't planning on that," Susan waved off, "I thought either you were going to or she was going to get a big surprise come tomorrow morning when she sees Ashley walk in instead of you."

Sarah decided that Rebecca was just going to be surprised.

099999

"And do you remember on the first day of practice when Heather went to kick the ball and fell down?" Lainey laughed as her and her roommate grabbed dinner. They had been exchanging funny stories from their times at soccer camps, games, and practices and were now talking about the different practices that had already been held this year.

"She was so embarrassed!" Riley laughed, "I felt so bad for her."

"I can't believe you actually felt bad for her," Lainey eyed her roommate, "I was too busy laughing to feel sorry for her."

"That is because you are a horrible person," Riley shook her head.

"Nope, it was because she was eyeballing Luke the night before and trying to flirt with him before practice," Lainey replied. When the table went quiet, Lainey silently cursed herself. So far she had been careful not to mention anything that could put Riley back in her vegetative mode and they had been having a good time. In fact, Lainey couldn't help but find it a little odd that the entire time they were exchanging soccer stories Riley hadn't mentioned anything about last year at the soccer tournament.

"Anyways ….," Riley laughed, "You should have seen your face, you freaked out when you realized you had mentioned Luke's name."

"So, you don't care?" Lainey asked in surprise.

"I don't like to talk about my experience here last year," Riley shrugged, "but that doesn't mean I don't want to hear about what's going on in your life here this year."

Lainey had to bite back the question of what had happened last year. Carol and Sherilyn loved to talk about their experiences last year.

"You're probably wondering why I don't like to talk about last year," Riley quietly said, noticing the curious look on Lainey's face, "And I would love to tell you, but I can't. It's just something I don't want to talk about."

"Okay," Lainey shrugged, "I just don't understand why none of the other girls from last year or the trainers from last year will even come near you."

"Is that going to affect our friendship?" Riley asked.

"You not telling me or the fact that they don't talk to you?" Lainey returned with her own question.

"Both," Riley shrugged.

"Nope," Lainey answered, "It's your own decision whether or not you tell me. And who cares what everyone else thinks? I find you funny and want to continue being your friend."

"Good," Riley smiled, "Because I could make your summer very unpleasant if you decided to try and turn your back on me."

"Is that a threat?" Lainey asked in a mockingly shocked voice.

"Pretty much," Riley sang, and then laughed, "We both like to sing things, don't we?"

"Probably a little too much," Lainey agreed, laughing with her roommate and friend.

99999

"Bailey!" Beth shouted the next morning, waking her friend up. Bailey groggily got out of the bed to see a glaring Beth staring at her.

"Hey Beth," Bailey tried to greet.

"Whatever," Beth sighed, "Get your butt out to breakfast. You skipped yesterday, it can't happen again."

Beth walked away leaving a stunned Bailey behind. Beth seemed more irritated than Bailey had imagined she would be. Bailey didn't understand … she shouldn't be mad at them, she was the one who had made the decision to let them off the hook.

"Did she ignore you too?" Madison sighed as she came out of the bathroom.

"Pretty much," Bailey shrugged, "Woke me up and gave me the cold shoulder."

"Maybe we should just turn ourselves in," Madison resignedly said, "I don't want her to be mad at us anymore, and we were wrong to try that."

"No," Bailey said firmly, "it is not our fault. She told us she wasn't going to tell. Now it is on her shoulders."

"Whatever," Madison mumbled, "I just feel bad is all."

"How often has she been mad at us before? She got mad at me when I wouldn't tell Scott how I felt, or when she got mad at you for accidentally spilling stuff on her sweater," Bailey reasoned, "And she has always gotten over it then, so I'm sure she will eventually now."

"But, this is bigger," Madison frowned, "She could lose her job over this. She seems to really enjoy it too."

"Well, she'll get over it," Bailey tried to reason.

"Get over what?" Shannon asked curiously as she joined the group, having already eaten breakfast.

"None of your business," Madison firmly told her, before walking out of the room, "You better hurry up Bailey."

"You should, Scott is looking for you and is kind of worried that you haven't shown up to breakfast in the last two days," Shannon informed her.

"I told him why I didn't go yesterday," Bailey grumbled as she grabbed some clothes to toss on and went into the restroom.

"So, I take it you were discussing Beth getting over something," Shannon said conversationally as she walked into the bathroom.

"How did you know that?" Bailey demanded as she came out of the stall fully dressed.

"Because she is walking around grumpy, so I assumed," Shannon answered, "What did you do to her?"

"Nothing," Bailey laughed, "She is just a little grouchy today, I couldn't really tell you the reason why."

Shannon gave her a look like she clearly didn't believe her, but did not say anything else, something that Bailey was grateful for. Bailey ran out of the cabin, hoping to make it to breakfast on time. She finally got there and walked into the cafeteria to see her boyfriend sitting at a table with Beth.

"Bailey!" Scott smiled, "Come join us."

Bailey gave him a timid smile before going to sit by him. Beth didn't even look up at her. Bailey knew this was going to be a long summer.

00000

"You mean to tell me that you are a journalist?" Vanessa asked Frank in excitement as the two of them were bowling. After they had gotten dinner last night, Vanessa decided that she would like to get to know her biological father a little bit more. So far she had learned that she was more like him than she had ever thought possible. Not to mention the fact that she had his hair and eyes.

"Yeah," Frank smiled, "I hear you write for your school paper too."

"Just the advise column," Vanessa shrugged, "And every once in a while Seth will let me write a special story."

"Oh, is Seth your boyfriend?" Frank asked. Vanessa couldn't help but laugh.

"No," Vanessa said through her laughter, "We've been friends since about the second grade. He's the newspaper editor though and the newspaper is his entire life. He's been editor since our sophomore year of high school. He almost had a heart attack when he realized that he would be leaving for the summer so wouldn't get a chance to work on the first edition of the school year."

"Sounds like an editor alright," Frank laughed with her, "Oh man, I have so many great editor stories. They are crazy."

"One time Seth made us stay up until three in the morning making corrections on the paper because he declared it just wasn't right," Vanessa shook her head, "I was so tired the next day that I don't even know if I read the newspaper."

Both of them shared a quick laugh at this. Vanessa was excited that she actually had someone who wasn't Seth to talk about newspapers with, it was a first and she was glad for it.

"So," Vanessa timidly said, "What made you and Aunt Krista split up?"  
"We just weren't right for each other," Frank sighed, "And I regretted every minute of giving you up. Especially since Krista still got to see you, I haven't seen you since you were born."

"Why didn't you come anywhere with Krista?" Vanessa asked.

"Because we figured it would be too awkward, so we just agreed that one day we would get to introduce ourselves as your birth parents," Frank answered, "Last summer we were going to, but we realized you still hadn't found out you were adopted."

"It was a big shocker," Vanessa shook her head.

"I know," Frank laughed a little, "Did you know Krista and I tried to make it work after she found out she was pregnant? We figured we would give it another try. But, it was over in a week. I just hope that if there is somebody out there that you really trust that you will keep them dear to you."

"I will," Vanessa smiled. But, she couldn't help letting her mind drift to Craig, who she had trusted for so long. She had trusted him enough to call him even after they had broken up.

00000

Sarah silently walked back to her house. She could not believe that she had just made a deal with Susan to basically be her lapdog next year. She should have realized that nothing was worth doing that. Nothing in the world. Susan was part of the reason Sarah was in such a mess right now.

"Hey Sarah!" Rebecca exclaimed as she ran into her on the sidewalk. Sarah gave her a half-hearted smile, "Can't wait to see you tomorrow!"

"Yeah," Sarah lightly said, not wanting to tell her that she had switched. The whole thing would be made more awkward, however, by the fact that she had run into Rebecca, so she would have had time to tell her, instead of being able to say that she hadn't found time to tell her.

"Are you okay?" Rebecca asked, "Look, I know we both said some mean things the other day, but I figured we could work past that."

"I'm sure we can," Sarah smiled at her, wondering what to do now. She didn't want to be there in the mornings with Rebecca and Carlos anymore, but she also did not want to lose Rebecca's friendship.

"Good," Rebecca smiled, "now, I have to go meet Carlos for some pizza."

"I am not going back," Sarah muttered to herself as she watched Rebecca walk off, "I can't watch that happen."

And she knew she had made her decision. She just had to stick by it.

99999

"Hey Craig," Vanessa said cheerily as Craig answered his phone later.

"Vanessa!" Craig said, sounding happy, "I am glad you called back. I was hoping everything was okay."

"Yeah," Vanessa said, "I'm kind of going through a hard time, and it was my natural instincts to call you I guess."

"I understand," Craig sighed, "We went through a lot together last summer. So, you can still share with me. What's up?"

"I found out who my birth parents are," Vanessa admitted.

"Really?" Craig asked.

"Yeah, my Aunt Krista and a guy named Frank," Vanessa informed him, "It isn't that big of a deal, but it is just so weird to think that all along my birth mom was here. Not to mention the fact that actually knowing them, I feel as if they just abandoned me."

"But what you have now is so much better than what you could have had with them if they weren't ready to have you," Craig pointed out.

"You always were the sensible one," Vanessa tried to laugh, "but, I guess it is just one of those things that it is hard for me to understand."

"I know," Craig said quietly, "You are going through a lot right now. And you don't have many people to talk to, so it can be really hard."

"I'm just glad that you can always judge how exactly I feel," Vanessa laughed, "I really appreciate it. You are a great guy and a great friend."

And Vanessa knew she was telling the truth.


	9. Chapter Eight

"_No, it makes you look like a prostitute that caters exclusively to clowns."_

_-Dr. Cox from Scrubs_

Chapter Eight

"Hey Sarah, how's your summer going?" Vanessa asked cheerfully as she was on the phone with her. Sarah took a deep breath and knew that she should tell Vanessa what was really going on, but didn't know if she could quite bring herself to say it.

"Well," she finally ended up saying, knowing that she was going to have to confess later, but for now she wanted Vanessa to have the best summer of her life, "What about you?"

"Pretty good," Vanessa said. Sarah wasn't sure, but she felt like Vanessa was holding something back from her.

"Hope that your family isn't driving you too crazy," Sarah continued, not really knowing what else to say.

"Of course not," Vanessa laughed, "Just wait until you are here for the family reunion. It'll be a blast."

"Do you think the soccer match will get as out of hand as it did last time?" Sarah asked curiously.

"My guess would be probably not," Vanessa sounded distant, "Look, I have to go someone just knocked on the door. Hope you have a great summer. I'll talk to you soon."

Sarah hung up the phone, wondering what was wrong with Vanessa, but not really having an answer for it. She also wondered if since she could since Vanessa's unhappiness, could Vanessa sense hers? Because Vanessa seemed to have more of an ability to understand people's emotions than Sarah ever had. And if she could sense Vanessa's unhappiness, than surely Vanessa knew something was up with Sarah. But, if she knew, why didn't she insist on Sarah telling her?

"Maybe I should have just told her the truth," Sarah mumbled before hearing a knock on her own door. She answered it to find Rebecca standing on the other side, with her arms crossed and looking very angry.

"That was really nice of you," Rebecca shouted at her, pushing her way through without even being invited in.

"What are you talking about?" Sarah pretended to be innocent.

"You switched shifts with Ashley so you would not have to be with me anymore," Rebecca shot daggers at her friend.

"It is not that I didn't want to be with you," Sarah protested.

"Oh, right," Rebecca rolled her eyes, "You just didn't want to see me with Carlos. You know, I'm your friend and I was hoping that whatever would make me happy would make you happy."

"Carlos won't make you happy," Sarah sighed, "He doesn't know how to treat a girl right. Now matter how much he says he has changed."

"I don't believe you," Rebecca frowned, "And I believe that you are being too know it all for this friendship to continue."

"Fine, it is not like I wanted to be friends with someone who doesn't listen to me anyways," Sarah fought back. Rebecca glared at her.

"And I don't want to be friends with someone who is a jealous ex-girlfriend," Rebecca coldly said before walking out the door.

"Looks like our friendship is going to suffer after all," Sarah muttered as she threw a shoe against the wall.

00000

Vanessa hung up the phone with Sarah, wondering what was wrong with her friend and cousin, but had decided not to breach the subject. She would find out later in the summer. Vanessa walked to the door and opened it to reveal Craig standing on the other side.

"Craig?" she asked in amazement. He just grinned at her, "What are you doing here?"

"Well, one of my mom's friends from college lives down the street from here," he started, "And I asked if I could stay with her for a little bit just to make sure you are okay."  
"Don't you have classes or something?" Vanessa asked as she moved out of the way so he could walk into the house.

"Technically I do," he admitted, "Or, I did. But, I dropped them all early enough to were I won't have to pay for them."

"And why are you here?" Vanessa couldn't wrap her mind around it.

"Because you needed someone," Craig continued to smile at her, "And I figured since you called me first and told me first, that I was probably the one you wanted to talk to and the one you needed."

"Craig …," she said uncertainly, not really knowing what she was supposed to do with this.

"Look, I know it might be a little awkward for you at first," Craig admitted, "But, come on, am I not the one you always told stuff too?"

Vanessa bit her lip for a minute before launching herself into Craig's arms. Craig gave a slight laugh before hugging her back.

"You are the sweetest guy I have ever met," Vanessa finally stated when she stepped back. She couldn't help but feel embarrassed that the last time she had hugged Craig like that was when he had come to pick her up after she had told her parent's she knew about her adoption.

"I try," he laughed, "I really do try. Now, I have to run over to my mom's friends house, so do you want to meet up in a little bit to do something?"

"Let's get snow cones," Vanessa decided as she walked him back towards the door, "Because you know …,"

"Snow cones fix everything?" Craig asked, winking at her, "that they do. That they do."

Craig walked out the door and Vanessa shut it behind him, turning around and leaning against the door for support once he was gone. Vanessa couldn't believe that Craig had come all the way here. That was not what she had expected him to do when she had called him. After all, they had broken up and that was a very boyfriend like thing for him to do to fly out here and drop his classes just to be with her. Not that Vanessa had a problem with it. In fact, Vanessa was pretty sure that she was going to have a very great summer now.

00000

Lainey and Riley walked onto the field laughing. They had gotten up early for a morning run before heading towards soccer practice. While the other girls thought that they played too hard and couldn't run afterwards or before, both Lainey and Riley loved to run so had decided to have a running schedule early in the morning. The more Lainey got to know Riley the more she liked her room mate. She seemed like a genuinely nice girl. The only problem was the secret that she was hiding. Lainey knew that she wasn't telling her something, she just wish she could figure out what it was.

"Hey Lainey," Sherilyn called to Lainey as her and Carol made their way across the field, "Are you ready for another day of grueling practice? That game tomorrow is going to kill us."

"Nope, we'll be fine," Lainey said confidently, "We've practiced more than any of the other regions, and besides, it will be fun whether we win or lose."

"This coming from the girl who hasn't even been here since last year and gets to start tomorrow," Heather grumbled as she joined the girls. Lainey smiled at her.

"Well Heather, maybe if you wouldn't trip whenever you are kicking the ball, you could be starting too," Lainey mildly told her.

"I'd watch my back if I were you," Heather hissed at her.

"I've been dealing with people like you all of my life Heather, I'm not going to let you intimidate me now," Lainey shrugged back.

"Hello girls," Luke said cheerfully as he joined the crowd, pretending not to notice the evil looks Heather and Lainey were exchanging. Before Lainey could reply Heather decided to get one last word in.

"Fine then, I might not be able to hurt you," Heather said, "But I know so much about your precious room mate that it would make your blood curl. And then what would happen?"

"Leave Heather," Lainey icily commanded her, taking a look at Riley, who frowned but otherwise did not look any worse for the wear. Either she was really good at hiding her pain, or she really just didn't care what Heather thought of her.

"Fine," Heather sighed, stalking off to the opposite side of the field with a couple of girls going with her. Sherilyn and Carol turned to Lainey.

"You really shouldn't make her mad," Carol informed her, "Besides, she is right about your room mate."

"Not listening," Lainey told both of them, "She is my room mate, I am going to be her friend. That's it. End of discussion. Now, are we going out tomorrow to celebrate our victory or what?"

The three, along with Luke and some of the other boys who had joined them by this time began to excitedly discuss their celebratory dinner after their victory that they were sure to have.

"Hello girls," their coach suddenly spoke up behind them. All of the girls ran into a single file line to see what the coach had planned for them today.

"Today will be an extra long practice …," the coach started.

99999

Bailey hummed as she ran to the arts and crafts tent. She was trying to forget her problems with Beth by spending all of her time with her boyfriend. This, however, was not that great of an alternative because her boyfriend thought this new idea was great, and therefore, decided to return it with even more time spent with her. And since Scott and Beth had been friends since before Bailey showed up to camp, she still had to see Beth and pretend to be friendly to her. All in all, she wasn't sure how great this summer was going to turn out.

"Hey babe," Scott threw an arm around her as she came into the tent. She gave him a quick smile before focusing all of her attention to the front. Arts and crafts was also her favorite part of camp because she felt like she could do something great, even if she really couldn't make that great of a craft. Usually it ended up looking like crap, but she gave it to her boyfriend and he pretended to like it. This thought made Bailey smile and realize how lucky she was to have Scott.

"You look happy," he noted as they began to make their own popsicle stick picture frames.

"I was just thinking about how lucky I am to have you," Bailey honestly told him, "You are a great guy."

"Thanks," Scott said, looking taken aback. Bailey did not have a habit of showing public affection in public, even if it was only in words, "I think you're great too."

"Well, since you guys are both so great, could you please possibly finish making your picture frames before you run out of time?" a cold voice spoke up behind them. They both turned around to see Beth standing behind them with her arms crossed. Bailey couldn't hold back rolling her eyes while Scott looked at Beth as if he was confused. When she walked off he turned to Bailey.

"I don't know what that is all about," he frowned, "She usually is so nice to me. And you are one of her best friends from last year."

"Maybe she is just having a rough day," Bailey shrugged, but silently thought to herself, 'or maybe a rough year.'

"It could just be the stress of being a counselor in training," Scott guessed, "I remember when the boys talked about one of their friends coming back as a counselor in training and the counselor had to be super above everybody else. He couldn't be the same person he was. It was really hard on him."

"Yeah, I can imagine," Bailey whispered. Suddenly, she felt really bad. She had always known that she had put Beth in an awkward position, but before it hadn't felt that bad because Bailey had decided that Beth had made the decision on her own, but Bailey knew that Beth had to pick between her friends and professional reputation. It was a decision that Bailey would never want to have to make.

9999

"Hey mom," Lainey said later as she plopped down on her bed and talked to her mom on the phone, "How's the family?"

"Your brother took off to go visit Vanessa," her mom said dryly.

"What?" Lainey asked in shock, "He seemed so weirded out by the fact that she called at all, why would he do that?"

"Probably because he still cares for her," her mom shrugged, "If only she felt the same way."

Lainey did not really know how to describe how she was feeling at this moment. She was angry at her brother for going to see a girl that he had previously date. She was angry with Vanessa for saying something or inviting Craig to visit her. She was kind of curious to see what exactly was going on between the two. But, Lainey decided she should probably stick with the angry at Vanessa part.

"Your father is on the phone with him right now trying to take some sense into him," Bridget sighed, "I love that girl to death, I really do, but after their awful break-up, I just don't know what he is doing."

Lainey knew her mom was in a hard spot because she couldn't exactly outright insult Carmen's daughter, but she knew her mom was protective. But, Lainey also knew that she didn't have any obligations. She had to talk to Vanessa.

99999

"I'm sorry Beth," Bailey finally got enough courage up to say later that night when it was just her and Beth left in the cabin before dinner. Beth was making sure everybody had left, and Bailey had taken her time to leave just so she could talk to her friend. Beth turned slowly towards her, not knowing that she was still in the cabin, "I didn't really show you much gratification for what you did. You did an amazing thing. And I know you probably regret it now, but I just want to say thanks for saving our butts."

"I knew I should have turned you in," Beth mused, "but, I just couldn't bear the thought of having the two best friends I had left here having to leave the camp and me being stuck with Shannon all summer. I'm sorry I was so upset after the decision I made, I did make the decision. I now have to stick by it."

"So, are we going to stick by it?" Bailey asked cautiously, looking for a response from Beth, who contemplated for a moment before finally caving in.

"Yeah, yeah I think we are," Beth smiled, "Because you have a long summer ahead with Scott. And imagine how disappointed he would be if his girlfriend got sent home early."

Bailey laughed, and two girls headed to dinner, in a lot better mood than they had been before. Bailey, however, couldn't stop thinking about how she still felt extremely guilty about the whole thing.


	10. Chapter Nine

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."  
-Charles Dickens  
Chapter Nine  
"Vanessa … what are you doing?" Lainey demanded to know of the girl. She could hear Vanessa's sigh on the other end of the phone line.  
"What do you mean?" Vanessa asked wearily.  
"You know exactly what I mean," Lainey bitingly told her, "You asked my brother to go and see you … and after you broke his heart and everything."

"Lainey," Vanessa started, but Lainey interrupted her.

"And you act like nothing happened," Lainey continued to fume, "and he comes crawling back. If he would have any guts he would tell you that it is over and that you should not have dumped him in the first place. But, no, he cares too much about you. He must think you are the one or something."

"Lainey … can I talk now?" Vanessa said calmly.

"Only if you are going to give me an explanation," Lainey said coldly.

"Okay," Vanessa began slowly, "First, I did not tell Craig to come down here. He just came on his own. I had nothing to do with it. He just realized that I might need a friend. And second, you might want to get your facts straight on who dumped who because I am here to tell you that it was not me dumping him."

"But, you guys said that it was because of somebody else you broke up," Lainey protested.

"And everybody automatically assumed it was me breaking up with him to go out with Seth," Vanessa said, somewhat coldly, "but did you ever see me going out with Seth?"

"Why did you let everybody believe it was you who broke up with him?" Lainey demanded to know. She was confused by this entire conversation.  
"Because, we both knew that everybody would be upset with the person who broke it off," Vanessa sighed, "so, we figured if people asked what happened we would tell them about the other person, because that was true, and then unless they asked for more details we wouldn't say anything else."

"So …," Lainey started to ask a question, but Vanessa interrupted her.

"Sarah and Seth are the only two people besides Craig and I that know the truth," Vanessa correctly guessed what her question was going to be, "Now, if you don't mind, I have to go and meet your brother."

Vanessa hung up the phone and Lainey stared in shock at her phone. Craig had never out right told her who broke up with whom, but Lainey had assumed it was Vanessa. And apparently it wasn't. And she had treated Vanessa like dirt this entire time. So had her parents. This was bad.

She had to find a way to make it up to Vanessa. She had taken all the blame for the break-up. And she had to know that was going to happen when she agreed to do it. Vanessa was a better friend and girlfriend to Lainey's brother than Lainey had ever given her credit for. And now was the time to start.

0000

"Your sister kind of knows about how we broke up now," Vanessa said almost guiltily as her and Craig were getting snow cones later.

"How did she find out?" Craig didn't seem as surprised or angry as Vanessa thought he might.

"Well, she called me, yelling at me for dragging you down here, and then I told her what happened because I couldn't take it anymore," Vanessa sheepishly said. Craig gave her a smile.

"It's not your fault," he assured her, "I should have never put you in the position of being the one to take the fall for a break-up that was my fault. Besides, my parents know too."

"How?" Vanessa asked.

"I told them when they called me and tried to talk me out of seeing you," Craig laughed.

Vanessa laughed along with her ex-boyfriend but couldn't help but be a little confused. Craig had broken up with her for another girl, but he had never mentioned another girl at all to any of his family. Was he still with this other girl? Vanessa's instincts would tell her no because if he was, then there was no way this girl would be happy about him seeing Vanessa. But, if that was the case she was not really sure why he broke up with her in the first place and was now trying to comfort her.

"Are you okay?" Craig suddenly asked her. Vanessa was startled out of her silence and gave him a quizzical look, "You all of a sudden got quiet."

"I'm fine," she assured him, "Just fine."

99999

"Rebecca, will you please call me back?" Sarah said, annoyed as she called Rebecca for what seemed to be the thousandth time. Rebecca still hadn't contacted her and seemed to be paying no attention whatsoever. Not that Sarah blamed her. She had really screwed up because she was stupid enough to think about the consequences of the things that she had done. Now, well, now she knew that she had to tell Rebecca the truth about Carlos before he ended up hurting her too and hopefully Rebecca would understand more.

Sarah was startled when she heard her phone ring. She quickly looked at the caller id and sighed when she saw it was Seth and not Rebecca, but answered the phone anyways.

"Hey," she glumly greeted her friend.

"Don't sound so excited to hear from me," Seth cheerfully said. Sarah let out a short laugh.

"Sorry, just having a problem," Sarah sighed.

"What happened?" Seth asked, concern filling his voice.

"Nothing I can't handle," Sarah promised him. She didn't really feel like telling him the truth.

"Well, whatever it is, I know that you will do your best," Seth reassuringly told her.

And that was when Sarah decided that she was going to go talk to Rebecca now. The best part was, she was still in possession of the traveling pants so she had an opportunity to wear them to face her fears. She was ready. She was sure of it.

9999

"So, I heard you finally apologized to Beth," Madison carelessly said as she walked into the room to find Bailey laying on her bed, "and now I'm wondering why you are hiding in here."

"Because Scott is driving me crazy," Bailey sighed, sitting up, "everywhere I go, he's there."

"He's your boyfriend, he just wants to hang out with you," Madison pointed out, "It is sweet."

"Not the way he does it," Bailey informed her, "Last year, he was never this clingy. This year the only way I can get him to leave me alone is if I tell him I have to go to the restroom."

"You are exaggerating," Madison laughed.

"Let's say I am," Bailey decided to concede a little, "But, I bet you anything right now he is out there asking where I am and if somebody will come get me out of the cabin."

Madison hesitated because she knew her friend was right, but didn't want to admit it.

"That is what I thought," Bailey said triumphantly.

"Bailey …," Madison said hesitantly.

"Yes?" Bailey asked sweetly.

"I think you don't like Scott anymore," Madison blurted out.

"What?" Bailey asked, shocked.

"You are avoiding spending time with your own boyfriend because he is clingy," Madison shrugged, "you are constantly annoyed by him, and besides, when was the last time the two of you had a decent conversation?"

"We always talk," Bailey rolled her eyes, "And I'm just a little annoyed at the moment. I'm sure it will go away as the summer continues."

"Okay," Madison said, clearly still not believing her friend.

"It will!" Bailey protested, "Scott is my first boyfriend. I just have to get used to the fact that we don't agree on some things."

"Such as whether or not free time is an option in your relationship?" Madison asked wryly, "Just think about what I said. If he is too clingy now, he'll always be too clingy you can't change a guy."

Bailey frowned as her friend made towards the door, and then Madison turned around, "And, Scott is looking for you. Says that he hasn't seen his honey pie all day and is missing her."

"Leave!" Bailey informed her friend, angry. Why in the world did Scott call her honey pie? That was not a nickname that she could relate to. In fact, it was one of those nicknames that lovey dovey couples had that made you want to barf. Maybe she should talk to him again. See if he really got the point of her talking to him at the beginning of the summer.

She knew they belonged together, she just had to make sure that he realized where their boundaries stood. Because, honey pie was not something she wanted to be called again. Ever. And besides, this could give them a chance to really grow in their relationship.

Madison just did not know what she was talking about. They were fine. She knew it.

099999

Sarah swiftly knocked on the door of a friend's house she had been at numerous times. Despite this, she was still a little nervous. But, when the door swung open, she realized that she was more than just a little nervous.

"What do you want?" Rebecca coldly said.

"I have to tell you the truth," Sarah simply stated, "I know that I switched so I didn't have to be in the morning anymore. But, it really did not have that much to do with you. I just couldn't see Carlos. When we dated last year, he didn't just mentally hurt me, he physically hurt me."

"What?" Rebecca quirked an eyebrow. Sarah took it as a good sign that Rebecca hadn't kicked her butt out yet.

"Well, see," Sarah sighed, "Carlos and I went to a party … and, well, one thing led to another, and he went much farther than I wanted him too."

"Are you accusing Carlos of raping you?" Rebecca demanded to know, letting Sarah into her house so they could continue their discussion.

"It's not an accusation, it's the truth," Sarah protested.

"I don't believe you," Rebecca simply said, "You were at a party, how much did you have to drink? You could have agreed to it and never known."

"I know I didn't," Sarah protested, not believing what she was hearing, "And I wasn't the first girl."

"So, he just has a habit of date raping girl after girl?" Rebecca asked sarcastically, "Why is he still able to date then?"

"Because nobody believes the girls, I didn't believe my friend last year, you don't believe me," Sarah informed her, "Don't you see a pattern?"

"I see a pattern of you trying to make sure I don't date Carlos," Rebecca snapped at her. Sarah just sighed. This was a lot harder than she thought it was going to be.

"I don't want you to date Carlos because I don't want anything bad to happen to you," Sarah reasonably said.

"Well, thanks for the advice," Rebecca snapped, "And just out of curiosity. What makes you sure that I wouldn't want to do that with Carlos? I mean, it wouldn't be rape if I was willing."

"But …," Sarah started, but Rebecca had already pushed her out the door.

"And by the way, those pants are the most hideous things I have ever seen," Rebecca innocently told her before slamming the door in her face.

"You did not work your magic," Sarah whispered to the pants before yelling at the door, "And these our not hideous pants. Just think about what I said!"

Sarah began walking down the street when she noticed a car pulling up next to her. She sighed as she turned around and saw Carlos getting out of his car to come talk to her. Sarah, deciding that she could not deal with that at this moment, ran two doors down to where she knew Bailey lived and hurriedly knocked on the door. When Tibby answered, Sarah knew she had found refuge from Carlos for the moment.

00000

Vanessa looked at her parents, birth and adoptive. She had asked them to meet with her, and Craig also happened to be with her. Her mom had shot her a quizzical look as she walked into the room, but hadn't said anything and Vanessa did not offer any information.

"Okay, as you guys know I might have been a little bit less than willing to accept your news at the beginning of the summer," Vanessa grossly under exaggerated her reaction to the news of her birth parents, "However, after a couple of talks with some friends, I have realized that I was acting like a child. So, I would like to spend time with each of you individually."

"I mean, I already know you two well," Vanessa pointed out Carmen and Phil, "and even you Aunt Krista, but I want to get to know you better as different people."

"Honey, there's something else we need to discuss with you," Carmen finally said.

"What?" Vanessa said, taken aback.

"Well, since your adoption was unusual from some people's point of view, we decided when you were old enough to see who actually gave birth to you that you might want to leave with these people," Carmen quickly said.

"What?" Vanessa said again.

"Basically, she's saying you can come back with us, or you can live with your birth mom or your birth father," Phil simply said. Vanessa's jaw dropped and then she looked at Craig, who seemed to have no answer for her and looked just as speechless as she did.

"Then we should definitely do the one on one thing," Vanessa faintly said. Slowly the others began to walk out until it was just Vanessa and Craig left in the room.

"That was a shocker," Craig lightly said.

"But, I mean, I'm legally adopted, how can I live with either one of them?" Vanessa asked, confused by the situation.

"Well, I'm just guessing, but I think you would still technically be Carmen and Phil's daughter, but that you would be living with a distant relative, like when people go to live with aunts and stuff whenever they get pregnant," Craig reasoned.

"I don't want to leave Bethesda," Vanessa confusedly said, "Why would they even give me that option?"

"Just to make sure that you really want to stay with your parents," Craig shrugged, "They love you and want to give you what is best for you."

"You're too smart for me," Vanessa committed off-handedly.

"Nope, you just can't think straight given the fact that your entire world has been turned upside down two summers in a row," Craig smiled at her.

"And you are always there to pick up the pieces and make me be reasonable," Vanessa smiled back at him, "And I appreciate it. Even if you did break up with me."

"Things are not always as they seem," Craig said mysteriously as he walked out of the room, leaving a confused Vanessa behind.

_Vanessa,_

_I am very sorry about yelling at you on the phone. And I know an apology in letter is not as good as an apology in person, but I hope you enjoy the notepad I sent with it since I know how you like to write. Once again, I am so sorry and I hope you can forgive me. Sometimes I can be a bit judgmental._

_Sorry,_

_Lainey_


	11. Chapter Ten

Disclaimer: I do not own Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants or any of its characters.

Author's Note: It has been a while since I updated this story, but here it goes.

"_We have something that Voldemort doesn't have. We have something worth fighting for."_

_-Harry Potter_

Chapter Ten

Lainey lay in bed, wondering what she had done wrong. She had been so stupid as to think that she could just command Vanessa around like that. Lainey, of course, had always been one of the people who loved control, but when it came to controlling people like Vanessa, who was clearly independent of anybody else, she should have known better. She thought she had learned her lesson last summer with the whole thing with Rachelle blowing up in her face. But no, she still had a habit of trying to dictate everybody's social life. She may not have done it in as much of a mean and controlling way she used to, but she still tried to. Did this make her any different than the best friend that she had hated so much at the end of last summer? Because something told her that it really did not. Before she got much further down that train of that, her roommate appeared, looking at her with concern.

"Lainey, you have barely moved all day, except to go to soccer practice," Riley informed her, looking exasperated and a little apprehensive, "You have to get up and go and do something. I don't care what it is. Go get drunk and dance all night. Wake me up in the morning when you try and sneak in unsuccessfully. Nurse a hangover with half the team during morning practice. Just do something."

"Do you want to go dancing with me?" Lainey said, brightening up at the idea of getting her roommate to come out with her. Riley looked hesitant, so Lainey pushed her, "Come on, it will make me happy. And do you really want to see your roommate sad?"

"But, you are going out with your friends, who by the way hate me," Riley reminded her with a laugh.

Lainey considered for a moment. Sure, she knew her friends would not be okay with the idea of her asking Riley to come along, but on the other hand, she just really wanted her there, so did it really matter what the others thought?

"You are coming," Lainey insisted, "Because who really cares what those people think?"

Riley still looked hesitant, but Lainey knew the idea of cheering up her roommate and the star of the soccer team was looking pretty good. Not to mention the fact that Lainey was prepared to throw down anybody who even messed with Riley, and Riley must have known that. Riley finally gave in with a smile.

"Fine, I'll go," Riley rolled her eyes, "but, if you even think about trying to set me up with some boy, I will kill you. And then we'll replace you with Heather as our star player. And you would never want that to happen, would you?"

Lainey did not even bother to tell her that she knew that it would never happen anyways. No way was Heather going to take the place of star over her. She quickly jumped up and ran into the bathroom, shouting behind her, "You will not regret this decision."

00000

"Bailey is going to be calling, so if you are going to stick around for a while, I can let you talk to her," Tibby offered as Sarah plopped down on the couch. Sarah just nodded. Even if her and Bailey had never been the best of friends, it would be fun to talk to someone her age who actually at least somewhat liked her at the moment, "Are you okay honey?"

"I am fine," Sarah tried her best to sound fine, but knew that she didn't. Not to mention the fact that Tibby knew she didn't feel fine, because why else would Sarah run into her house? Before Sarah or Tibby could say anything else, the phone rang. Tibby went to go answer it while Sarah just stared at the pictures surrounding the mantelpiece. One was of the Septembers holding up their little baby 

daughters, looking as happy as they possibly could. Sarah wondered if the four of them would ever be that close. Finally, Tibby came in and offered the phone to Sarah, who reluctantly took it.

"Hey Sarah," Bailey greeted, happily. Sarah, however, felt that there was something missing in her tone, as if she was trying to sound happy, but it also came out a little flat.

"Bailey, how is summer camp?" Sarah asked her, conveying as much happiness as she could for the girl. Bailey took a moment to respond and Sarah knew that she was sifting through things to try and come up with what she could say and what she couldn't. Sarah knew this because this is what she did with everybody she had talked to this summer, including Vanessa and Seth.

"It is going well, get to see lots of old friends," Bailey gave a very general answer, "What are you doing at my house?"

"Um, hiding out," Sarah decided to go with the truthful answer, "Somebody was trying to talk to me who I really did not feel like having a conversation with, and your house was the closest, so here I am."

"Carlos huh?" Bailey automatically got to the source of the problem. 

"How did you know about him?" Sarah asked in amazement. She did not even remember telling Bailey or Lainey about Carlos.

"Well, whenever we started school last year, the rumors that you and Carlos had dated, broken up, and then Vanessa beat him up were everywhere," Bailey laughed, "I'm sorry, I did not know that you didn't want me to know."

"It's not that, I was just surprised," Sarah sighed, "It was just a really bad break-up, that's all. And now he is dating one of my friends, who won't talk to me because I told her that it was a bad idea."

"Yeah, people don't like to hear that so much," Bailey agreed with her, "but, I'm sure that she will eventually forgive you. She's got to know that it is just because he is your ex."

Sarah did not know what to say. She knew she could not exactly disagree without going into the whole story.

999999

Bailey waited patiently on the other end of the phone for Sarah to say something. Sarah and she both seemed to have their own boy problems this summer. She was amused because last summer it had been her and Lainey with the boy problems, however, the boy problems had helped bring them closer, so maybe this would help bring her and Sarah closer.

"I guess your right," Sarah finally said. Bailey knew the sound of holding something back and just agreeing so that you did not have to go into details. She decided not to push the subject any further, but then began to ran out of things to say before Sarah brought up her own touchy subject.

"How's the boyfriend?" Sarah asked brightly.

"He's okay," Bailey said, looking around to make sure that no other campers were anywhere nearby to divulge the information she was about to share at a later date, "He is kind of getting on my nerves though."

"Really?" Sarah asked in surprise. Bailey realized that without knowing much about her relationship with Scott, it would almost border on hero worship for the average outside person.

"He just won't leave me alone, he has to be around all the time," Bailey complained. Sarah gave out a small laugh.

"I don't think that is something you can really change," she told Bailey sadly, "It just kind of comes with the territory of dating that kind of guy. He will always be clingy."

"Thanks," Bailey said sarcastically, then glanced up at the clock, "Well, I have to get off the phone now, it was nice talking to you. Hope that everything works out."

"You too," Sarah said with a quick good-bye.

00000000

Vanessa had decided to go swimming at the pool to mull over some things. Of course, there was the whole ordeal of her entire family telling her that she could make the decision of where to live. That was already thought out though. She could never leave Bethesda, or her parents. Because that was what they were, her parents. Sure, the other people may have contributed genes, but her parents had been the one to raise her.

And then there was Craig. Having him around had made some things much easier. However, other things had gotten more complicated. She knew she still had feelings for him, but now that she was out of the dog house for breaking up with him, she was sure that her parents were going to start disliking him like Bridget and Billy and Lainey had done with her. Lainey's apology note had come today in the mail, and Vanessa was not sure whether to feel relieved, amused or angry at the note. She knew that Lainey should not have thought that stuff in the first place, but she did apologize. And she was not really sure if she could go out with a guy her parent's disapproved of. Plus, there was the fact that he had broken up with her for somebody else. Craig was one complicated guy.

"Vanessa?" she heard in surprise. She turned around to see her Aunt heading towards the pool. Vanessa gave her a big smile.

"What are you doing here?" she asked Krista. It was still hard to believe that this woman was were she had gotten half of her genes from.

"I just wanted to take a swim to cool off from everything," Krista smiled at her, "It has been kind of hectic these last few days."

Vanessa had not really thought about how hectic this must have been for Krista too. I mean, here she was pretending to be her aunt all these years when she had known that she was the one to really give birth to her. She wondered how she had done it for so long without going crazy. Vanessa knew that she would have eventually snapped. This might have been what caused the whole adoption thing to come out in the first place though, maybe Krista had snapped and wanted her daughter to be her daughter. Vanessa felt a pang of guilt at realizing that she hadn't really considered herself as Krista's daughter after the news.

"You are an awfully contemplative person," Krista informed her as she sank into the pool, "I think you leave in your head too much. Frank used to do that when we were dating. It drove me crazy because I could never tell what he was thinking. But, he always got that look on your face like you do now."

Vanessa smiled, knowing it must be hard for Krista to even talk about it, so she decided to extend an invitation to spend more time with Krista before she did her other family members since their pact yesterday, "Hey Krista, do you want to go catch a movie like we used to tomorrow afternoon?"

0000000

Lainey looked around the club to try and figure out where her roommate had gone. They had arrived and she had since disappeared. Of course, it might have had something to do with the fact that nobody else would even talk to her. And she wouldn't take any drinks, which Lainey thought was weird because she was in a club, why wouldn't she drink? But, she still seemed to be missing the punch line as she asked Luke about it.

And that was when she decided that she had finally had enough. She grabbed Carol and Sherilyn by the arm and drug them to a quiet corner of the room. Courtney looked up at her, a confused expression on her face, while Sherilyn did not make eye contact

"Why the hell can't you guys just be nice to Riley?" she demanded to know, "And I don't want any of those crap answers that are vague. I want real answers. I want to know what happened last summer to make my roommate the laughingstock of this camp. And you are going to tell me now!"

Carol and Sherilyn had not seen Lainey this upset since the first time she had met her. Normally, Carol would have laughed it off, but could tell the girl was more serious than she had been any other time she had asked. In fact, Carol was a little afraid to not tell her what had happened last year. Sherilyn also looked as if she would be afraid if they refused to tell the girl what had happened.

"Last year, Riley was a party girl like the rest of us. In fact, she was kind of the head of that department. She met this really cute trainer named George and they started dating. We were all at clubs every night, much like we are this year," Carol informed her, "Riley could hold her liquor with the best of them, never stopping when the rest of us did."

"And then it all came to light," Sherilyn gave her a grin, still enjoying this moment, despite the sadness of the actual events, "Riley got pregnant. She got pregnant and signed up to have an abortion, not wanting anybody to know. Of course, her room mate told everybody when she found out. The Coach knew, and was going to kick her off of the team. She cried and begged and he decided to let her stay for at least another week. And then, she miscarried. The Coach made sure that she was healthy, and said she could continue to play."

"Until the AIDS story came out," Carol gave out a slight laugh, "She had a lot of problems with her last summer. But, anyways, both George and her tested HIV positive. We knew that she had given it to him, but she wouldn't admit it. So, she ended up quitting and going home because she couldn't take all of the joking."

"My room mate is HIV positive?" Lainey asked, her throat tightening as she asked this question, "I don't believe it."

Carol and Sherilyn just nodded in response, a growing smirk on each of their faces.

00000

Bailey smiled to Scott as she joined him out on the volleyball court. Today was a volleyball tournament that Scott had wanted to sign up for, despite Bailey's lack of athletic ability. She knew that she was only doing this to make Scott happy and hoped that he would appreciate that. Because, there was no way she was going to enjoy this.

"It'll be fine," he reassured her, as if reading her mind. Bailey smiled at him. See, the two of them were so close it was like he knew what she was thinking most of the time. Did she ever really want to give that up? It had taken them so long to get to that stage of the relationship and just to throw it away? However, Sarah's words about her not being able to change him did echo in her mind from earlier. She didn't really want to change him completely, just the clingy aspect of him had to go. 

"Sure, and by fine do you mean when I fall flat on my face people won't laugh at me?" Bailey asked him sarcastically.

"Oh, they'll still laugh," he informed her, "but, they will do it in a loving, caring way because you are the cutest girl at summer camp."

"Then you may just have some competition," she teased him, "Because there is this cute guy in Cabin eight that I just might have to leave you for."

"As long as he is really cute, you have a deal," Scott laughed, "We don't want you passing on an opportunity for a mega hottie or anything."

"Are you two ready to play?" one of their team mates asked, annoyance in his voice, "You're little flirting is cute and everything, but we need to play this game now."

Bailey and Scott laughed, each taking their places on the court. Before the game began, Bailey looked up in the stands to see Maddie sitting there, sending her a small smile, but Bailey chose to ignore it.

0000

Later, her team was celebrating their big win at the dance that night. She did not know how they had won, but she knew that she had nothing to do with it. She credited most of the win to Scott and his friend, Matt. They had played superbly well, even covering for her when she was doing terrible. Which was pretty much the whole tournament. Everybody was there. Actually, now that she thought about it, she realized that Beth hadn't arrived yet. Her and Scott were laughing like it was old times and nothing had changed between them. This was the way she liked it, she only wished that it could stay this way forever. Before she could continue down this train of thought, the missing Beth came up to her with a serious look on her face and drug her to the side.

"I think one of the other girls confessed," Beth said in a low voice, "Which means that I could be out of here any day now and you don't have anyone to protect you."

Bailey did not have to ask what the girl confessed, but she could see the look on Beth's face of sadness, anger, and disappointment in herself.

"I'm sorry," Bailey muttered, "What is going to happen to us?"

"Most likely you'll pass it off as a prank and only get stuck on KP duty," Beth shrugged, "But, you will also be watched like a hawk the remainder of the summer. So, I wouldn't do anything else to mess it up."

"You should have turned us in," Bailey muttered, "I should have made you turn us in. You deserve to be at this camp more than anybody else. You shouldn't have stayed loyal to me. I let you down. I'm so sorry Beth."

"There is no need to apologize," Beth gave out a slow, hard laugh, "I should have known it would be too difficult coming back here after being good friends with all of you last summer. I just could not imagine what I would do if you got in trouble on account of me. It wouldn't have worked because I would have felt guilt ridden, just like I would have if I would have been a camper."

Bailey did not know what else to say, but she did not really have to come up with anything else because just then the Camp Managers came up and told both of them that they needed to speak with them immediately.


	12. Chapter Eleven

"_Man is the measure of all things."_

Chapter Eleven

Vanessa smiled as she opened the package to reveal the pants for her from Sarah. She was excited to get them. Especially since her and Craig were going to be hanging out today. There was something about these pants that always gave her courage, especially around Craig. She ran down the stairs and saw Craig and Frank laughing about something. She didn't really know what they were laughing about, but she sauntered up to them and said hello.

"You look great," Craig complimented her as he looked down at the pants, a smile on his face as he remembered the history of the pants, "Are you ready to go?"

Vanessa just nodded and said good-bye to Frank and followed Craig out the door. Once they hit the sidewalk, Craig turned to face Vanessa with an excited look on his face.

"So, guess where Frank is from?" Craig asked her, smiling down at her.

"Atlantis," Vanessa sweetly replied as they continued to walk.

"No, he's from the same town my college is in," he laughed, "He is the best journalist at the paper there. How crazy is that?"

Vanessa nodded, confirming that it was crazy. She wondered if she visited Frank there, if Craig would come and see her or if he would consider himself too good when he was in college to even think twice about her. That was how she had felt first semester had went down. He had gone to college and come back a changed person.

"You should come and visit him and then sneak out to see me," Craig informed her, breaking her train of thought.

"I don't think I would have to sneak out to see you," Vanessa pointed out to him, "Frank seems to like you enough."

"Now, but when he realizes that his biological daughter and I …," Craig suddenly stopped talking, but continued to walk as he chose his next words very carefully, "I am very sorry about how things ended between us at Christmas. And even more for letting you take the blame."

"You already apologized for that," Vanessa reminded him.

"For the blame thing, but not for the breaking up with you thing," Craig reminded her, smiling a little at her, even though she was not meeting his gaze.

"You find someone else you like, and that is the way things go," Vanessa tried to shrug it off, "It happens all the time in relationships. I should have realized that ours would be no different."

"I thought that I was too cool to date a high school kid," he shook his head at his own stupidity, "But, you were far more mature than any girl I could have dated at college. Not to mention you were far more mature than me. After I did it, all I could think about was how I could keep everybody in the families from finding out so that they didn't hate me."

"And I helped you with that," Vanessa gently reminded him of that, "Because you are a good guy, you just made some mistakes."

"Probably the biggest one of my life," Craig agreed.

99999

Bailey looked around her, noticing that nobody in the cabin was exactly meeting her eye. After Beth had been sent home for her part in helping them not get in trouble for being out after curfew, Bailey and the 

other girls had become outsiders in their own cabins. Nobody else knew about it yet, because the girls still did not feel safe talking about it when they thought they could get in trouble at any moment.

Scott did seem to be very confused as to the nature of Beth's getting kicked out of the camp, because he said that she would make an excellent leader. Bailey did not have the heart to tell him that it was her fault Beth was gone and figured he would find out when everybody decided to not keep their mouths shut any longer anyways.

"I can't take this anymore," Maddie said dramatically to Bailey as she flopped down on her bed. Maddie, who was used to being popular everywhere she went, was not used to people ignoring her like they were in the cabin. Beth had been a dearly loved part of their cabin, and they had been stupid to try and come between that by making her promise not to turn them in.

And they were on probation because they had tried to cover up their mistakes. The counselors were now watching them like hawks. Bailey was pretty sure they were even watching them sleep at night so that way they could not try and sneak out again. Bailey hated being watched like this. With Beth gone, Maddie mad, and the rest of the girls not talking to her anymore, this summer was kind of turning out sucky.

"I'm still talking to you," Shannon assured her as she joined them, "You guys look as if nobody has ever hated you before."

"Nobody ever has hated me before," Maddie said through clenched teeth, however, Bailey could tell that she was a little excited about the fact that somebody was actually paying attention to them, even if it was just to tease them, "I am not you."

"And I thank God for that," Shannon told her coldly, "Beth shouldn't have stuck up for you guys. I would not have."

"She thought she was doing what was right!" Bailey protested, "I should have told them myself. All I could think about was myself."

"What made you even think of that idea in the first place?" Maddie asked, suddenly turning on her friend, "You were never the one for adventures before, but now we are on probation because of your master plan."

"I …," Bailey started to say, but was interrupted coldly by Shannon.

"I think it was because she was trying to take her mind off of the whole Scott thing," Shannon coldly replied. Bailey didn't even ask what the whole Scott thing could possibly be. She knew what it was, and she knew that Shannon was right. She had only done it so that she could spend some time thinking about something other than Scott, and hopefully having fun while doing it.

00000

Sarah looked around at all the children that were there for afternoon cheerleading camp. She hated being here in the afternoon with all the other cheerleaders. Who knew that just agreeing with Susie would be the most difficult part of teaching these little kids? Susie kept asking her to agree with her on everything. The other cheerleaders looked at Sarah as if they were worried about her. Plus, rumors had been circulating about the fact that her and Rebecca had gotten in a fight, so all the cheerleaders wanted to know about that.

"Sarah is that your phone?" Susie asked, annoyed a second later. Sarah had not even realized her phone was going off and ran to go answer it, muttering an apology as she did so.



"Sarah?" a meek voice said on the other end. Sarah knew that it was supposed to be Rebecca from the caller id, but she sounded so different that Sarah knew automatically what was wrong.

"I will be right over," she instructed her before beginning to run out of the gym, but Susie got in her face with a cold look on.

"Where do you think you are going?" she asked, "This doesn't end for another fifteen minutes."

"You have four other cheerleaders here," Sarah said, furious, "Boss one of them around. Now, if you don't mind, I'm leaving."

"Suit yourself, but if you do, you can kiss your position on the cheerleading squad good-bye," Susie told her coldly.

"I really don't care right now about that," Sarah honestly informed her as she charged out of the door, leaving an open mouthed Susie behind her.

00000

Lainey kicked the ball into the soccer goal, ignoring her room mate's cheer of congratulations as she did so. She couldn't believe that she was rooming with a girl who had given AIDS to a trainer last year. How promiscuous did she have to be to give AIDS to this other person? And why did she not tell him before it had happened? And then getting pregnant? Lainey would never have pegged Riley as irresponsible, but now she knew why everybody had been laughing at her room mate all summer.

"Way to go," Sherilyn told her as she came back to the sidelines, her turn on the field over. Tomorrow they were playing the number one ranked team in the tournament and they needed all the help that they could get from their players. Lainey could tell that Sherilyn was happy that Lainey had finished talking to Riley and was now as disgusted by her as everybody else.

"Thanks," Lainey breathed. She couldn't wait until the competition tomorrow. She really did not want Riley to know her feelings about the whole situation and that she had made her other friends tell her, so all of this pent up energy was needing to go somewhere. There was a small voice that was telling her that she was being judgmental again, feeling like she could control everybody's lives. But that was masked by the bigger voice that was telling her about Riley's past last summer. About how Riley had returned this year even with all that had happened.

"What is your problem?" Riley suddenly asked her as she appeared by her side. Lainey bit her tongue so that she would not say anything, "You practically begged me to go out with you last night and now you aren't even talking to me. I don't get you."

"Nothing's wrong with me," Lainey tried to assure her, "Just having a rough day is all."

"Or, you know, someone could have told you about me last year," Riley said coldly, "And you are not comfortable admitting it because it makes you seem worse than you ever care to think of yourself."

"As I recall, you are the one with AIDS who got pregnant, how does that make me the bad person?" Lainey asked her with a cold voice.

"Because you are the one who told me that you didn't care about my past, and here you are, flinching away from me as if I am some form of leper," Riley informed her, "You will not contract AIDS from being room mates with me."

"You had sex with that guy when you knew you had AIDS," Lainey reminded her, "You passed AIDS onto him. That is dishonest and cold. I can't believe you would do something like that."

The Coach, who had heard the last few words that had been exchanged came up to them, "You girls need to keep it down. Your personal problems need to be saved until after practice. Got it?"



"Got it," they both muttered, but refused to look at each other.

000000

Sarah ran upstairs to where Rebecca's room was. She wondered if this was anything like Vanessa had felt last year when she had known and come just to have her worst fears realized. She knocked on Rebecca's door and quickly went in to see her friend in much the same state that Sarah had been about a year ago. She crouched down by the bed and looked up at her friend.

"Are you okay?" she asked gently, not really knowing how to start the conversation.

"I should have listened to you," Rebecca said, through tears, "He was nothing but a jerk that I shouldn't have dated. Why didn't I listen to you?"

"Because you thought you knew better," Sarah smiled at her, "Trust me, I did the same thing. I really thought I knew better too. I told my friend to get lost. She did and this is the exact same way we ended up last summer, just I was in your spot."

"And he just keeps on hurting girls," Rebecca let out a little laugh, "Probably because they never have the courage to stand up to him."

"Maybe," Sarah smiled, "But, maybe you could be the first one to have that courage. And I understand if you say no, because when I was in your shoes last year, I just wanted to get as far away from it as possible."

"I just want it all to go away," Rebecca said through tears, "When does it all go away?"

Sarah closed her eyes, remembering the dream that she had about that situation just last night. Knowing that she could not lie to her friend about when it would go away by telling her that it would go away in a couple of months, she decided to just be honest.

"I still have nightmares about it," she started slowly, when she saw her friend flinch she continued, "But, it did get better. At first, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror I was so terrified of what I could have done to deserve it. I couldn't be in a room alone with a boy, even my own father. Then, my mom was there for me. Vanessa was there for me. Seth was there for me, even after I yelled at him. And I'm here for you. It will get better, and trust me, the anger that you are sure to experience towards yourself will eventually evaporate and turn towards him."

"I don't want anyone else to ever have to have this experience," Rebecca suddenly said in a very harsh tone. Sarah looked at her surprised.

"Sweetheart, I don't think you can stop everybody from being raped," Sarah told her lightly.

"No, but I can stop people from being raped by him again," Rebecca suddenly jumped up, a new fire in her eyes, "It just happened last night. I haven't showered since then. They tell you not to shower afterwards, right? You will go with me, won't you?"

"I … I don't think I'm following," Sarah said quietly.

"I'm going to turn him in," Rebecca determinedly said, "Please come with me."

And Sarah got up and walked out the door with her.

99999

The words that Craig had spoken were still ringing in Vanessa's ears as she entered her grandparent's home. It could not have been the biggest mistake he had ever made. But, it felt so good to hear him say that he had made a mistake. She wondered why the house was so silent until she realized that was because until she realized that there was a note on the dining room table.

_Hey Vanessa. I tried to call your cell phone before I realized that you left it here. Anyways, your Grandpa was rushed to the hospital and that is where we are all going. Please join us as soon as you can. If you need anything else, just call me. Love, Mom._

Vanessa couldn't believe what her mom told her in the letter. Nothing could be wrong with her grandpa. He had to be okay. She ran upstairs to grab her phone and then began to rush out the door before realizing that she didn't have enough cash to pay a taxi and she didn't have a car to drive. She frantically dialed Craig's number, praying to God that he answered.

"Want to see me again already huh?" he asked jokingly as he answered his cell phone. She took a deep breath.

"I need you to take me to the hospital," she said in a rush, "My grandpa's there."

"I'll be right over," he promised, hanging up his phone without a good-bye. She smiled at the phone before hanging up also. She almost went back upstairs to change her clothes, but decided that the magic of the Pants could still definitely have something to offer tonight. When Craig pulled up a few moments later she hopped into his rental car.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked as he began to drive off, trying to pay attention to her as well as the road.

"I don't know …," she said, trying to hold back the tears. Her and her grandfather had never had the closest of relationships because they had not been near enough to each other, but she remembered Christmases and Easters and family reunions were he would talk about how proud of his granddaughters he was and would always slip them money despite their parent's warning not to.

"I'm sure he will be fine," Craig assured her, grasping her hand with his free hand. She didn't even think about the touch and what it could possibly mean, she was just glad for that little bit of comfort that he could give her at the moment.

After pulling up to the hospital, Vanessa ran in, Craig right behind her. She was wondering who to ask where to go when she saw her mom coming out of a bathroom. She quickly accosted her, hugging her and asking her what was going on.

"They still won't say everything," Carmen said, tears in her eyes, "He had a heart attack and now they are trying to decide if he needs emergency surgery or anything. I can't get a hold of anyone. Paul and Lena are not answering their phones, Bridget and Tibby aren't either. I just don't know what I'll do …,"

"Everything is going to be fine mom," Vanessa firmly told her, under any other circumstances she would have laughed at the irony of her being the parent while her mom was acting like the child. She knew it must be bad though, because her mom had always had problems with her relationship with her dad and it was only the last few years that they had become as close as she had always wanted, "Craig will try and get a hold of his mom, I'll try and get a hold of Sarah so she can find her parents. And we'll find Tibby. I promise your friends will be here for you."

99999

Sarah looked down at her hands while Rebecca continued to talk to the police officer with a calm tone in her voice. She wondered if there was something wrong with her. Something wrong with her because she couldn't do last year what this girl was doing now. She wouldn't have even thought about it. But here Rebecca was, trying to act calm and natural and doing what she knew was right. What Sarah had known was right last year, but was unable to go through with it.



Rebecca had said that she was going to turn him in. She thought that she would be comforting Rebecca, not helping her turn in the rapist. Not that she did not want it to be that way. She just expected Rebecca to be too scared to do so also.

What made Rebecca so much different than her? Why was she strong enough to do this? Sarah had even had the problem getting it out to her friend who had a very likely chance of something bad happening to her, and it seemed like Rebecca was going to tell the world.

"Are you ready to go?" Rebecca asked her a second later. Sarah finally looked up and did notice the weary expression in her friend's face. She may have done what she felt she needed to do, but she still needed a friend.

Sarah was about to reply, but then her cell phone rang. She hurried up to answer it, seeing that it was Vanessa on the line, "Hey Vanessa what's going on?"

A few seconds later after Vanessa filling her in she said, "Oh my gosh. No, I will totally find my family right away."

She hung up the phone and looked at Rebecca, saying, "I have to go home, now."


	13. Chapter Twelve

"_Service to others is the rent you pay for your room here on earth."  
__-Time (1978)_

Chapter Twelve

Sarah sat on the plane quietly, unable to figure out what was going on inside her own brain, let alone her parents sitting right next to her. Her father was being completely quiet, the man he had treated as his own father was in the hospital, possibly dying right now. Her mom was thinking of her husband, but also her best friend and what she would lose if something happened to him. Tibby and Bridget were both informed about the hospitalization, and insisted that Lena keep them updated, to which she vigorously said that she would. Sarah had no idea how much emotion her parents must be feeling at this moment. Just the few seconds of thinking of what her parents had gone through was already giving her a headache.

She also could not get the look on Rebecca's face out of her mind when she said that she had to leave town. Rebecca had been mad that Sarah was leaving her on such short notice, just when things were getting heated up with the whole accusing Carlos thing. Sarah had promised to be back as soon as possible, not really knowing what else she could say. She really could not say anything else.

"We're going to land soon," Lena whispered to her daughter, studying her as if she was trying to figure out what Sarah was thinking, just like Sarah had tried to figure out what her parents were thinking just a few moments ago.

"I'm glad," Sarah answered honestly. They had no way of figuring out if anything had changed while they were on the plane and she just hoped that as soon as they landed they would get news that everything was okay.

00000

Sarah rushed into the hospital, knowing that nothing had changed because when she had talked to Vanessa earlier, she hadn't sounded very hopeful. She found Vanessa sitting down in a chair in the waiting room, Craig sitting by her, his arm around her.

"Vanessa?" she said timidly. Vanessa immediately jumped up out of her seat and ran and gave her cousin a hug.

"It is so bad," she whispered to her, "They aren't telling us anything. Mom and Dad are going crazy. Aunt Krista is going crazy. Grandma is going crazy too."

Sarah nodded, and then indicated her parents behind her, neither one looking well. She was sure that they wanted to see the rest of the adults and only hoped that Vanessa could pick up on that too. Vanessa then turned to them, almost forgetting that they were even there.

"Uncle Paul, Aunt Lena," she greeted, giving each of them a hug, "My mom and dad are in the cafeteria getting coffee right now if you would like to join them."

Sarah's mom and dad smiled at the girl before walking towards the cafeteria. Craig was still sitting down, giving Sarah and Vanessa a chance to talk, which provided Sarah with the perfect opening.

"What the hell is Craig doing here?" she asked.

0000

Vanessa flinched at Sarah's question. She had not told Sarah the whole story about her aunt really being her mother and that Craig had come up here. Vanessa actually hoped that Bridget and Eric would let it slip about him being there so she did not have to explain it.

"He is here to be with me," Vanessa tried not to make it sound like it did. She did not want Sarah to get the idea that they were going back together. However, it did come out like that.

"Are you two getting back together?" Sarah hissed, forgetting about her grandpa for a minute. She was only one of two people who knew that Craig had broken up with her from the beginning. Vanessa knew that Sarah liked Craig well enough as a person, but was not happy about the break-up still.

Craig suddenly joined them, as if he could sense that they were talking about him.

"Hey, do you guys need coffee or anything?" he said, noticing the way that Sarah was looking at him.

"Can I have some tea?" Vanessa quietly asked him. He nodded before giving her a quick peck on the forehead and walking off.

"You have so much to tell me," Sarah looked outraged at her friend's secret keeping. Vanessa just rolled her eyes at her friend's outrage.

"And I am sure that you have told me everything that is going on," Vanessa informed her, before following the path that Craig had taken.

She caught up with Craig at the machine, who gave her a small smile.

"What were you two talking about?" he innocently asked.

"You," Vanessa said shortly, "She wants to know if we are getting back together."

Craig did not say anything, but waited for Vanessa to go on. Vanessa bit her bottom lip, wanting Craig to say something. She wanted him to say that they were getting back together. She wanted him to laugh at the absurdity of the idea. She just wanted to know what he was thinking. The one person in the world that she could not read easily was Craig. Which was ironic considering Craig was the one person who could read her like no one else could.

When Craig did not say anything else, she muttered something and walked back towards the hospital waiting room. She really did not want to go back and finish her conversation with Sarah. So, she veered off into another area of the hospital, sinking against the wall.

Here her grandpa was, in the hospital and all of her drama was coming out in the air. She could not deal with the feelings that she was having for Craig right now. A little bit of resentment for breaking up with her, happy that he was here, confused that he was here, and hopeful for the future together.

All she wanted to do was make sure her grandpa was okay and then get out of this hospital. Then she would deal with what was going on in the rest of her world.

000000000000

Bailey sat next to Scott, a frown on her face. Ever since she had realized that she did not want to be with Scott anymore she was trying to think of the best way to break up with him. That, plus the fact that he did not know about Beth's departure was leaving her to feel very edgy. Scott kept trying to get her to talk and she knew she should tell him these things before he heard it from someone else. Well, the Beth leaving part because the only two people who know about her feelings towards Scott were Madison and Shannon, neither of which would say anything.

"Are you okay?" Scott whispered to her, a frown of concern on his face. She frowned and nodded at him. She knew that she was not being fair, but she had never had a serious relationship before Scott, which meant that she had never actually broken up with a guy before. Plus, he really was a sweet guy who only had her best interest at heart. This seemed like it was going to be harder to do than she wanted it to be.

She could feel the other girls that were in her cabin staring at her. They seemed ready to pounce and tell Scott the whole truth. And all she wanted to do was let out a big sigh, but knew she could not because that would tip Scott even more off that something was wrong with her. Which would mean that he would pester her more. Of course, looking around at the girls, the moment she let Scott out of her sight would be the moment that he found out about how his good friend Beth really got kicked out of camp. She was sure that the stories were vague and not very promising right now.

"Hey Scott," one of his friend's greeted as he approached them, "Have you heard the rumors?"

"What rumors?" Scott asked, curiously. Bailey knew what the rumors he was talking about must be. Bailey looked away, wondering if his friend would really bring the rumors up in front of her, when he opened his mouth to continue, he knew that he was, so she decided to say something before it could come out of his mouth.

"The rumors that I was the reason Beth got kicked out of camp as a counselor," Bailey blurted out before she knew what she was saying and before this other guy, who had no right to tell him, could tell him about it while she just sat there, not being able to say anything at all. The look her boyfriend fixed her with when he turned to her with a shocked expression on his face was almost as bad as the fact that everybody in the room was now looking at her, including the other counselor's.

"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Scott asked, looking more confused than Bailey knew he was. Bailey took a deep breathe before she tried to explain again.  
oooooo

Lainey and Luke barely got the door open as they walked over to her bed, making out. They were laughing when Lainey looked over at her clock and realized that her room mate was not back yet.

"I wonder what happened to Riley?" she asked as soon as she broke off the kiss. Luke looked very disappointed in this, but sat up anyways, looking around the room.

"Probably still upset about what happened in practice yesterday," he shrugged.

"You were here last year, right?" she asked and when he nodded, she continued, "Was her partying and all really that bad?"

"She was kind of the ring leader," he answered, "She knew what she wanted and she went after it. I think a lot of the rumors this year that come from your friends are because of the way things ended so badly last year."

"Badly for my friends?" Lainey asked as she pulled her knees up to her chest, "They were not a part of it."

"As soon as other teams heard about our teams problem with the pregnancy and the AIDS, we became known as the bad team," Luke explained, "The other teams did not want to hang out with the girls at all, and one of the girls from one of the teams even refused to play against Riley because she thought she was going to get AIDS. About two days later was when Riley left."

"That's stupid," Lainey frowned, "You don't get AIDs from playing soccer with someone who has it."

"I know that and you know that," Luke laughed, "And I am sure even the girl knew that. But, people get freaked out when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases. They treat the people like they are sluts."

Lainey could not help but think that he was talking directly to her about it and she immediately got defensive. She did not think that Riley was a slut just because she had gotten AIDs.

"I don't think Riley is a slut!" Lainey practically shouted. Luke looked at her with surprise.

"I never said you did," he frowned at her.

"No, you just implied it by saying that people get freaked out by it," Lainey shook her head, "You did not want me to be friends with her in the first place, do you recall that?"

"I did not want you to be friends with her because of the influence of last summer, not because of the disease," Luke tried to explain. Lainey once again looked at the clock and noticed that it still really late and her room mate never stayed out this late. She quickly jumped up from the bed, not even looking at the boy.

"I have to go and find her," Lainey muttered. Luke looked at her as if she was crazy.

"You cannot go out there by yourself!" he exclaimed, "It is three o'clock in the morning. I am going with you."

"I really do not want to see you right now," she rolled her eyes at him.

"Well, too bad because I am not letting you go by yourself," he followed her out the door. She wanted to roll her eyes at him again, but she was secretly grateful that he was willing to come with her.

0000

"I was the reason that Beth got kicked out," Bailey explained. When he said nothing, she decided to wait patiently. Either he was going to be really mad and yell at her, or be really understanding and say it wasn't her fault. The next thing that came out of his mouth happened to be neither extreme she thought that it would be.

"You got Beth kicked out?" he asked, surprised, "Why and how?"

"Because we snuck into the kitchen," she explained, letting out a sigh of relief, he did not seem that angry, "And she caught us and let us go."

"You snuck into the kitchen?" he repeated.

"We were just trying to have some fun," she explained, "I was having a really bad week and decided that might be fun."

"You were having a bad week and decided to relieve the bad part of it by breaking the rules?" Scott's disappointment registered with her. Even though she knew she wanted to break up with him, she could not believe how disappointed he was in her. Angry she could have handled, but this disappointment was taking its toll on her.

"Maybe you guys should take this outside," Madison whispered to her as she came over, indicating all of the people now staring at the group. Bailey automatically felt bad for her, because she was having a hard enough time without the cabin talking to her, and now word was going to spread around camp and she would probably have even more people not talking to her.

Bailey turned to Scott, who nodded and silently followed her outside, not looking at her when she finally turned around to look at him.

"I'm sorry," she sighed, "I shouldn't have snuck into the kitchen. I also should not have made Beth not tell on me. Please, you have to understand …,"

"Why were you having a bad day?" Scott suddenly asked her, not commenting on her remarks. She sighed, not knowing exactly what to say. She could not tell him that the reason she had been having a bad week was because she had been annoyed by him. This was definitely not the way that she wanted to break up with him.

"Because of things that were going on in the cabin," she sighed, hoping that he did not see through her lie. However, as she looked at him she realized that he probably did.

"You know what?" he asked, the disappointment seeping into his tone again, "I would at least expect you to be honest with me. I mean, first you don't tell me about the whole Beth thing and I have to wonder what you got in trouble for and Beth got kicked out for. And me being the stupid person I am, I did not really connect one with the other. But, now that you finally did tell me, you won't even tell me the full truth? Bailey, I don't know what has happened to you this summer, but I really don't like it."

With those words, Scott shook his head and walked off, leaving Bailey standing speechless.

000000

"We've looked everywhere for her," Lainey said desperately two hours later as they left the last night club in close proximity to the hotel they were staying at. Not to mention the fact that since it was five, most clubs were closing or were already closed. And she had practice in two hours and with no sleep, she knew that it would be very difficult. Especially since she was nursing a hang over and no sleep. Who came up with the idea of partying tonight?

"Maybe …," Luke hesitated to speak his mind. When Lainey glared at him, telling him he better finish his statement, he continued, "Maybe she isn't at a club anymore … what happens if she left with somebody?"

"She wouldn't do that," Lainey stubbornly said.

"I know you think you know her better than I do," Luke slowly said, "But, you have to remember that I was the one who was here for her partying stage. She goes crazy and does not even realize that she is doing it. If she left with a guy, chances are we won't see her again until tomorrow morning, hopefully at practice."

"Look, I have just spent two hours looking for her, I have practice in two more hours and I am not giving up now," Lainey angrily told him before stomping off. She could hear him swear before he followed her.

"You are really getting to be a pain in the butt," he whispered to himself, but she whipped around and glared at him.

"Just because I want to …," she did not finish her thought as she noticed someone hanging out by a trash can in the alley they had just passed. Someone who looked oddly familiar.

"I think I see her!" she excitedly said, running past him and going up to the girl, who was in fact her room mate. Luke was right behind her.

"What are you doing?" she asked Riley as she crouched down next to her, trying to not let the exhaustion and worry she was experiencing shine through her words. Luke stood a step or two back to give the girl plenty of room to talk to her friend, who was looking at her like she was crazy.

"I was just trying to have some fun," Riley gave out a little laugh, a laugh that sounded far from fun and sounded more desperate and sad than anything else, "Because nobody cares anymore. But, I didn't want to be here any longer, and somehow I ended up here. I even rejected that nice guy's offer to take me back."

Lainey glanced at Luke who nodded and picked the drunk girl up. Lainey shuddered as she thought of all the things that could have happened to her friend. And how bad it felt to hear her say that nobody cared anymore. Because Lainey knew she was talking about her. She had been her friend and then left her.

"Don't worry," Lainey whispered to Riley, "I still do care."


End file.
